NEW FEARS FOR FAMOUS CITY STREET
Businesses hit by third blaze in four years
Businesses around the Glasgow School of Art fire yesterday warned they face ruin in the wake of the blaze.
Traders in Sauchiehall Street, one of Scotland’s best-known thoroughfares, were reeling after the third major incident in four years.
In March, a fire ripped through Victoria’s nightclub, spreading to neighbouring buildings, and forcing the closure of an entire block of the street.
That block remains cordoned off, and as of yesterday morning, a second section of Sauchiehall Street was also closed.
Kevin Chan, 48, owner of the Steak & Cherry restaurant, said: “It’s definitely affected us because people can’t drive and park here.”
Iftekhar Ahmed, 42, charge hand at The Hill bar, said: “All we saw was smoke last night. A lot of businesses and restaurants on Sauchiehall Street have already been affected by roadworks.
“Now they’ll close the whole street and it will affect our business because this is the main artery of the street.”
Alisha Sekhon, 22, working in Garnethill Store, said: “The firefighters have been here last night and we’ve been helping them to fill up their water tanks.”
Hassin Mohammed, 42, owner of nearby Turkish Style Barber, said: “We usually have lots of customers come in on a Saturday morning but it’s very, very quiet. The atmosphere feels very strange.”
Sunday Post columnist Donald MacLeod, who owns the Garage nightclub, and is convener of a trade body for the city’s nightlife and concerts, described the fire as a “gut-wrenching blow for Glasgow”.
“Sauchiehall Street is the heart of Glasgow’s nightlife scene, there’s so many good bars and venues and we’re all devastated by the news,” he said.
“For everyone connected to the art school I can’t begin to imagine what they are going through, but the nightclub Campus and the ABC are just as important for the culture of the city.”
Yesterday, the leader of Glasgow City Council said a taskforce would be set up on Monday morning to start a revival of the street.
After a visit to the scene, Susan Aitken said: “We are going to put a Sauchiehall Street taskforce in place, which will be multi- agency with partners across the city, to plan the future of the street – what happens now and how we get it back to its former glory.”