Revealed: Shop where Glasgow fire started had not registered to sell vapes or paid business taxes

The vape shop at the centre of the fire that engulfed historic buildings on Glasgow’s Union Street fire had not paid business rates, The Ferret has found, and does not appear to be registered to sell tobacco or vaping products.

The fire started in the pop-up style vape shop just after 4pm on Sunday, 8 March, with thick smoke billowing out onto the street.  

Several hours later, as the fire began to take hold, Central Station was evacuated. It then ripped through Forsyth House, a B-listed building next door from 1851 known for its iconic dome on the corner of Union Street and Gordon Street.

The Ferret can now name the tenant of the shop at 105 Union Street as Junaid Retail Limited. The company, which was trading in Glasgow as Scot’s World, was registered in Hamilton. However we were told that the Union Street business was sold two weeks ago to another owner under the same company name.

According to Glasgow City Council it had occupied the premises from 1 August 2024 – but a business rates bill for 2025/26 was returned to the local authority with respondents claiming the owners had “gone away”. 

A council spokesperson told The Ferret that landlord, Afton Estates Limited, had confirmed Junaid Retail was still the occupier at that time. The council added it had no contact with the company and no rates payments had been made. The account is in the hands of its debt recovery partner, the spokesperson said.

We also found there is no registration for the 105 Union Street address on the Scottish Government’s register for retailers selling tobacco and nicotine products, which includes vapes. Businesses must enrol on the official Tobacco and Nicotine Vapour Product Retailers list to comply with the law.

We visited the business's registered address in Hamilton, and found a similar shop to the Glasgow one, selling vapes, rolling papers, as well as inflatable beach balls and DIY tools. From there we were put in touch with Ajaz Sarwar who claimed to be the owner of the Union Street vape shop until it was sold two weeks ago. There is no record of his involvement in Companies House filings.

He claimed to have been told he would have one year of rates relief before having to pay but added that when this grace period was over he was "struggling badly" and the shop "was not making enough money" to afford the bill.

Sarwar added he thought only the sale of tobacco had to be registered and did not think vapes were included in the regulations. "I cannot comment on what happened next, " he added. "That is for the new owner. But when I heard what had happened I had so much pain. Words cannot describe it."

The Ferret has also contacted the current director, listed on Companies House, who has not yet responded to requests for comment.

Trading standards can issue fixed penalty notices if a company is found not to be on the register while selling cigarettes or vapes. If someone is found to be in breach of legislation three times within a two-year-period they can face a 12-month ban. 

It is understood that partly due to cuts to local authority trading standards officers – whose numbers have been halved in recent years – no action will be taken against businesses who have not registered to sell tobacco or vaping products unless a complaint is made.

Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney said our findings should act as a wake-up call to the need for better enforcement of regulations.  “The revelations are pretty shocking,” he told The Ferret.

“To find out this shop isn’t properly registered when it is next to a major railway station, dealing with hazardous materials – and then on top of that in a building of that vintage – raises lots of questions.

“There have to be serious concerns about enforcement from a licensing perspective and also from a fire safety perspective. We need to look seriously at what the protocols are there. If this wasn’t registered properly to sell vapes it raises questions about compliance with other regulations. This needs to be a wake-up call in terms of the risks these types of premises pose to public safety.”

According to documents at the Land Register of Scotland, the building housing the shop and the floors above was purchased by Afton Estates, a property company registered in Edinburgh, for £540,000 in 2008. According to its most recent accounts it has physical assets worth almost £10m. There is no obligation on Afton Estates to register the selling of tobacco and vapes.

The shop front is understood to have lain empty for four years before the pop-up shop with no signage – selling vapes, rolling papers and other smoking accessories, souvenirs and cheap toys – moved in. Google street view shows the shop front was vacant in June 2024. The shop owner claimed Scot's World started trading there in August of that year.

According to planning documents lodged with Glasgow City Council, the small unit on the increasingly run-down bus thoroughfare was last occupied by bookmaker William Hill in 2020, though this is not supported by historic Google street view images. Prior to that it had been a Money Shop and a Wimpy burger outlet. An application by its owner in September 2024 to turn it into a takeaway was refused.   

Pop-up shops, including some selling vapes, are increasingly being sought by building landlords struggling to rent out shop and office space, with short-term licences helping to cover overheads. A Ferret investigation in November 2022 found more than a third of non-domestic properties on Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street were vacant.

One fire expert told The Ferret that better regulation and enforcement was also needed on fire safety, especially next to key transport infrastructure like Glasgow Central Station. He claimed the lathe and plaster construction and air gaps between ceilings and floors of buildings like those on Union Street and other city centre streets meant fire could spread rapidly.

In Scotland fire safety for non-domestic buildings is regulated by the Fire Safety Act and associated regulations, with responsibility in buildings like 105 Union Street shared amongst the building owner, its tenants and any managing agents. 

Fire protection consultant Bruce Ogilvie said: “If a vape shop – a high risk retail unit due to lithium-ion batteries – is located below offices, the owner and tenants must ensure that the fire alarm systems are linked or that the fire stopped between the shop and the floors above is sufficient to allow evacuation. Often fire risk assessment companies will offer people the bare minimum because that’s how they can keep costs down."

“The whole ecosystem is broken and that affects the people at the bottom,” Ogilvie added. “Too often it's the leaseholders who end up having to cough up. I just don't think it's policed properly and enforcement is so difficult,” he said. He called for fire safety officers to “turn up at any time and inspect” premises, as food hygiene officers do.

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: “The annual bill for 2025/26 was returned from the property as a “gone away” last summer. However, the landlord (Afton Estates Limited), confirmed the above company was still the occupier at that time.

“Following this, we updated the billing address to the company’s registered office, which is in Hamilton. My understanding is we have had no contact and no payments have been made. The account is in the hands of our debt recovery partner.”