It was the shed where Rab C Nesbitt and Mary Doll famously shared a steamy night of passion.

But now firebugs have burned out the wooden hut which featured in the popular sitcom about a workshy Glaswegian and his long suffering family.

The episode which saw fictional couple Rab and Mary bed down for a romantic tryst in the shed was filmed at Kelvinside Allotments in the west end.

Owner of the shed, John Hancox, has lost hundreds of pounds worth of garden tools and could only salvage a spade made by his grandfather.

He said: “The framework itself is still intact but the contents are badly damaged. If the fire brigade hadn’t been there so quickly it would have been completely burned down.

“It was my dad’s shed before me. He died fifteen years ago. He built it and it’s a really solid shed which he lavished a lot of time and effort on. It was a really majestic shed.”

Mr Hancox was at the allotments when actors Gregor Fisher and Elaine C. Smith arrived with a film crew more than twenty years ago.

He said: “The shed became quite notorious because Rab and his wife spent a night of passion in there, much to my dad’s disappointment when he saw the programme. He was a bit shocked. He didn’t know what the storyline was. I found the whole thing quite entertaining.

“I think they chose the shed because it’s reasonably big so they could get the crew in as well as the actors. They were camped on site for a surprisingly long time – about three days.”

Mr Hancox’s father received a fee for the use of the shed and invested it in the allotments he loved.

“The money for the production fee went on buying a composting toilet for the allotments,” Mr Hancox said. “We didn’t have anywhere for people to go to the loo before that.”

Police have now launched an investigation into the fire but Mr Hancox insists it may not have happened if the council had properly repaired a broken gate.

He said: “There has been an ongoing problem with the gate. The council are the landowner so their responsibility includes keeping the fence and the gates in good order. They did a fix on the gate in November of last year which failed.

“As far as I understand it was reported to the council on January 27 and unfortunately there doesn’t seem to have been any action taken. I was there the day before the fire and the gate was lying down so anybody could walk in.

“There has never been any fires in the last twenty years and the police said they thought it was because it was easy to get access.”

He added: “It’s important that the sites are kept secure because I wouldn’t like the same thing to happen to anyone else. It’s really upsetting. I hope the gate is fixed promptly.”

A council spokeswoman said: “While we sympathise with the owner of the shed, any claim that damage to the gate was a contributory factor would seem unfounded as it’s waist high and anyone who wanted to get in could have done so easily.

“It is not the sole responsibility of the council to secure allotment sites and we work jointly with the associations and plotholders.”

It is understood repairs will be carried out by the council on Monday.

A spokesman for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “At 7:15pm on Tuesday February 9 we received a report of a fire at a shed in Cleveden Drive.

“A fire engine travelling in the vicinity at the time was immediately redirected and firefighters reached the scene less than a minute later.

“They used a high pressure jet to extinguish the fire and notified police before leaving the incident around 8:30pm.”

A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: “Police were called on February 9 following a fire at allotments next to Cleveden Drive, Glasgow.

“The fire is being treated as wilful and enquiries are ongoing and anyone with information on this should contact Police Scotland on 101.”