In pictures and video: Glasgow's famous Fruit Market returns to operation as cause of blaze is investigated

Part of the Glasgow institution in the city's East End survived the blaze which started after 3.30am on Thursday - and it appears it was business as usual as customers and deliveries made their way in and out of the complex.

Pictures by Jamie Simpson

Those wanting to get access to the Glasgow institution in Blochairn were, however, met by a police cordon at the main gate.

Three officers stood in the torrential rain holding clipboards. They gave access to wholesalers who were queuing to get in before 9am, which appeared to be a peak time for business.

The cops, however, took a note of the registration number of the car and a name.

A firefighter also stood guard on Blochairn Road with a hose attached to a hydrant, signally that their work was not done.

An appliance was also seen leaving the scene before 9am but the Scottish Fire and Rescue service remain at the site more than 24 hours after the blaze first started.

A group of men wearing hard hats could be seen assessing the damage at one section of the Fruit Market.

The traders, however, were in working mode shouting commands and handling orders in the manner they are famed for.

The individual units were all filled up with fresh fruit and vegetables. At the site of the blaze, crates of fresh fruit remain in their original state untouched by the fire.

The B and C sections of the Fruit Market is where the majority of the damage appears to have happened.

According to a site map, there are at least 16 units of different sizes in those sections.

Shortly after 9:30am, fire investigators arrived on site.

Two officers from the Incident Research and Investigation Section drove up to the Fruit Market.

They then headed to the site of the fire to begin their probe which will reveal the cause of the blaze.

Outside, workers queuing for breakfast at a snack van seemed hopeful for the businesses effected by the blaze. The word in the market is that they hope a replacement site will be found for them.

A spokesman for city property, wo run the building, said: "Due to the efforts of the emergency services, traders, council services and City Property staff we were able to reopen part of the site to accommodate trading last night and through into this morning.

"As soon as the fire was extinguished and the site made safe our priority was to ensure our tenants could return to business as soon as possible.

"The west warehouse building within the markets depot, as well as previously vacant units, have been made available for those tenants who had their premises damaged by the fire so they can continue trading.

"We are providing all possible support to assist our tenants affected at this time and will continue to explore ways that we can improve the current situation."

We previously reported how hundreds of workers were just at the beginning of their shift at the Blochairn Fruit Market when smoke appeared from one of the units after 3.30am yesterday.

The Evening Times understands that the fire started at RS Trading, which is one of the around 40 units who are based there.

The alarms immediately went off and as workers began their evacuation, they watched in horror as a fire formed ripping along the premises’ roof.

Explosions could be heard as the fire tore through the building hitting appliances which exploded.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service rushed to the scene with initially two appliances but as the blaze built up, over 70 firefighters worked to bring it under control.

Most of the workers were outside when the blaze started and made a calm evacuation, which meant there was no injuries.

Lorry drivers who had travelled from as far as Holland were woken by the workers as they slept in their vehicles and told to evacuate.

Firefighters then worked for hours to extinguish the well-formed fire and save the Fruit Market.

But in the daylight, it appeared the damage had been done with several units gone with the flames and parked vehicles also damaged.

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