The unit in Hamilton’s Regent Shopping Centre appears much like many of the surrounding shops, which is to say, abandoned. We’ve been directed here by Google Maps, which insists Unit 6, 10 Regent Way is located next to a Superdrug inside the rather browbeaten arcade.
Both stores flanking the Superdrug are shuttered, their interiors in a state of disarray. To the left is what appears to be the former home of The Works, now located a few doors down. On the right is an American Candy outlet, shelves partly stripped and plastic bags overspilling with sweets littering the floor. Could either of these be what we’re looking for?
The Bell has made its way to Regent Way in pursuit of answers. It’s been five days since a fire ripped through a historic Victorian building on the corner of Union and Gordon Street, destroying the livelihoods of dozens of independent business owners, and shutting down Scotland’s busiest station for at least a week. Fire hoses were still spraying water onto the smoking rubble of Forsyth House at Wednesday lunchtime, tails snaking through the streets. As evening hit, Glasgow city council announced the latest damage recorded: part of the southern gable of the Caledonian Chambers had collapsed overnight.
As the immediate shock subsides and Glasgow acclimatises to the blow its city centre has been dealt, investigations and recovery plans are running in parallel, as are two central stories.
One of these is about the big guys, the owners and managers of the building: multiple private landlords who’ve seen their properties go up in smoke, and the council. They must collectively decide what to do with the gaping hole on Union Street. If all are in agreement, this process could be relatively painless. If visions don’t align — well.
The other story, the one we’re focusing on today, is about a specific genre of wee guy: the tenants of the building, and the operators of shabby tat and fast food shops, nestled among the recognisable high street brands on Union Street. These businesses now pepper what was once one of Glasgow’s prime shopping thoroughfares. The eyes of passers-by usually slide past them, unless they require a lighter or a greasy snack.
But in the wake of the fire on 8 March, an uncomfortably bright spotlight is upon these traders. The blaze is believed to have begun at 105 Union Street, a general tat shop, selling bongs, Labubus and vapes. It was a store so commonplace, it lacked a public-facing name. Multiple videos show smoke emerging from the doorway of the unit, members of the public attempting to subdue the rapidly spreading flames. Anger around ‘vape shops’ has swelled in the interceding days; calls for new laws over the sale of vapes are loud.
But before Scotland adds to its legislative burden, perhaps there should be an assessment of just how existing business regulations are enforced. The Bell’s initial attempt to answer a simple inquiry — who owns the tat shop located at 105 Union Street? — has revealed a Byzantine tangle of small business ownership that bears little relation to official registrations lodged with Companies House and Glasgow city council.
Attempting to track down one lone person has taken The Bell from Pollokshaws to South Lanarkshire, and given us insight into a retail sector that is regulated in the loosest sense of the word. The reality on the ground is that the ownership and operation of shops like 105 Union Street is informally and frequently transferred between contacts. This instance involves a network of shopkeepers who are understandably nervous about speaking to the media given the stakes — and potential compliance fines that some might be racking up.
The reticence makes it difficult for officials to chase up tens of thousands of pounds owed to the council in business rates, and for journalists to pinpoint who exactly was in charge of a shop the day a devastating fire broke out. But we think we’ve done it regardless.
Who is ‘Ajaz’ Sarwar?
It’s the business rates that have sent us to Hamilton. On Monday, the council informed the media that Junaid Retail Limited, the business registered to 105 Union Street since August 2024, owes the local authority at least a year’s worth of tax. One of the few details listed for Junaid Retail on Companies House, is a director’s name — ‘Ahsan Ali’, born 1997, who took over the business in July 2025 — and a correspondence address: Unit 6/10 Regent Way, Hamilton. A council source tells us that this location is where they “believe” Junaid Retail has another shop. So we hare down there.
We’re not the first journalists on the scene. Ali, the chatty proprietor of Fone Star in the shopping centre, says that another Glasgow reporter was sniffing around earlier, trying to find Unit 6. It’s not in the shopping centre anyway; it’s outside, on the brick walkway leading to Quarry Street.
The shop — listed as ‘Home Essentials’ on Google — has slightly more on offer than the pure tat of its supposed sister in Glasgow, with DIY tools and homewares available alongside soft toys and out-of-season beach balls. Like 105 Union Street (which, it turns out, traded under the name ‘Scot’s World Ltd’), vapes are stacked in the window, illuminated by neon lighting. A tired-looking man guards the counter. He’s happy to sell us batteries but shakes his head and shrugs apologetically when we ask a soft question about whether this is indeed Unit 6.
What we're chiefly looking to understand is: who and where was ‘Arslan’, the man interviewed in the Scottish Sun on Monday? In the short exchange, ‘Arslan’ identified himself as the owner of 105 Union Street and claims he bought the shop two weeks ago. The man told the Sun he was “in grief” and “[didn’t] want to talk about it”.
Reporters from The Ferret also visited Unit 6 and came away with a number for an ‘Ajaz Sarwar’. That was interesting, because there is an association between the name ‘Ijaz Sarwar’ and Unit 6 — two businesses listing Ijaz Mirza Muhammed Sarwar as director have been registered to the address since 2019, and it remains his personal correspondence address. Quite the jumble but perhaps that’s the point. Business owners register on Companies House under full and partial names. There seems to be little enforcement to ensure that people don’t operate under multiple identities.
When the Ferret gets Ajaz Sarwar on the phone, he says he was the owner of 105 Union Street — despite not being officially registered as either the current or former director on Companies House — until two weeks ago, when he sold it on. On this point, both the Ferret and the Scottish Sun’s stories align: that 105 Union Street changed hands two weeks before the fire ravaged it, even though the new ownership wasn’t registered anywhere.
Sarwar does tell the Ferret he’s responsible for the unpaid tax bill though (and a missing licence to sell vaping products, which can result in fines of up to £20,000 and six months in prison), saying that after a promised year of rates relief was up, he was “not making enough money” to afford the liability.
We managed to find a local business owner who knows Sarwar, identifying him as the man pictured in a LinkedIn profile created under Sarwar’s full name. The source said they were familiar with Sarwar and the 105 Union Street shop. “As far as I knew, all this time Ijaz ran and owned the place,” they told us over the phone. They did not want to be named out of fear of “having my bones broken”.
But was Sarwar still the current owner?
The subsequent trail for a conclusive answer leads us past red herrings, suspicious entrepreneurs and, finally, to a traumatised couple in Shawlands.
The mysterious Mr Khan
“We could see what was going on, a tiny wee shop — electrical fire, a wee guy ran out, came out and said it was on fire.” The man recounting the events of 8 March calls himself ‘Pasha Khan’ and says he runs the Phone, PC, Laptop and Gaming Repair Centre at 96 Union Street. We’re not convinced that all of these statements are true, but we’re letting him finish telling us about what he saw on Sunday first. Pasha seems oddly keen to defend the honour of the humble vape.
It wasn’t the vapes at fault, he claims, but the fire service who spent about 12 hours heroically battling the inferno.
“The flames had gone out,” Pasha says. “Then they took a rest for two hours, they done nothing for two hours. The flames started going to the first floor. They’re still pouring water on it two days later. Why would they stop for two hours to scratch their bums?” (There is, it should be noted, no evidence that this was the case).
We’ve found Pasha via a number attached to a different prominent business owner on Union Street: Mohammed Ali. Ali is a serial entrepreneur, linked to at least three shops (and many more registered businesses) on that stretch, including the Mobile and PC repair shop at number 100 (which does a sideline in vapes), the tech shop at 96 (which inexplicably sells motorbikes, and yes, more vapes), and a now-closed fast food shop named ‘Alien UFO Burgers’. It’s the latter that we’re interested in — a source has passed on a tip that the burger joint might share an owner with 105 Union Street.
Traces of Ali can be found all over Glasgow’s hustler underbelly, once you start looking for them, including a list of ventures with space-related names like ‘Soviet Sputnik Limited’ and ‘Area 51 Company’. The phone number we’re speaking to ‘Pasha’ on is the contact for Alien UFO Burgers. The same number can also be found on intriguing adverts, alongside biblical names. Want to buy the former Justice of the Peace Court in Coatbridge? Contact ‘Jacob’. Interested in UFO Burgers? Speak to ‘Solomon’.
When pressed, Pasha is a bit cagey about some details, namely who Mohammed Ali, the owner of several of the businesses he’s involved with, actually is. He’s also very insistent that the shop at 105 wasn’t a vape shop.
You don’t have to be a psychic to know when someone isn’t telling the whole truth. Pasha’s long silences and typing sounds in between queries speak volumes. But he might not necessarily be hiding the intel we’re seeking — he could just be a shop owner, unwilling to spill everything to strangers, for fear he’ll be dragged into trouble he has no stake in.
The next day, we phone Pasha again with more questions. His stance on the fire brigade has softened, perhaps because he’s given a statement to police since we last spoke and his stress levels have lessened. “Everyone is very compliant, everyone feels bad,” he says. He explains he has the proper lithium fire extinguishers and does everything by the book (post-publication of this article, Mr Khan got in touch to clarify that he "has not made any statements against anyone" and has "great respect for the work" done by the fire service. "Everyone involved is under a lot of pressure, and the situation has understandably caused concern and urgency," he added).
Last June, we published our 'Tinderbox City' map, which tracks fires in historic, non-residential buildings that have been badly damaged by fires since 2000. We hoped it would be a useful resource for many Glaswegians — and that we wouldn't have to update it as regularly as we have.
After Sunday’s Union Corner fire, the current tally stands at (least) 42 historic buildings impacted by fires in Glasgow in the last 26 years. Please read the article, and make use of it. It's a public resource.
When pressed on the identity of Mohammed Ali, he insists he’s Pasha Khan, not Ali. After more questions about the labyrinthine web of companies, he changes his story: his business is leased from Mohammed Ali. “He [Ali] couldn’t get it to work, then gave it up. I will probably give it back to him,” he explains, unconvincingly. Either way, he stresses he’s got nothing to do with Junaid Retail Limited or the business at 105 Union Street that caught fire.
Sensing a roadblock, we ring up Derek Souter, the businessman who owns Egyptian Halls and the assorted ground floor business units between 84 to 100 on Union Street. People like Ali are Souter’s tenants — just like how whoever occupies 105 Union Street is the tenant of property company Afton Estates Ltd. We haven’t been able to reach Afton, but they’ve refused to comment when other media have got through.
It’s a few minutes before we can establish why we’ve called — Souter uses the opportunity to take The Bell to task about recent reporting about his development of the halls. When we’ve finished with that matter, he wants to ensure our investigation won’t be a “witchhunt”. “Are all South Asians the same to you?” he thunders at one point, when we ask if he knows Mohammed Ali.
But he ultimately agrees to assist us. Before we can ring back ‘Pasha’ and ask point blank if he’s Mohammed Ali and if he owns 105 Union Street, there’s an update on Companies House. Within the last eight hours, Junaid Retail has changed their registered office address from Unit 6, Regent Way, to what looks like a residential Shawlands location. We’re in the car in minutes, with no idea what we might find: Mohammed Ali? Ajaz — or Ijaz — Sarwar? Ahsan Ali?
Meeting the Alis
We’re deposited at an early Noughties residential block in Shawlands, red and blond brick rather than sandstone. The address leads us to the first floor; no need to buzz as the front door is ajar. Padding along carpeted corridors, we see the door we’re looking for is already open. A young woman with shoulder length dark hair peers suspiciously through the crack.
“We’re looking to speak to Ahsan Ali,” we tell her, starting with the name associated with Junaid Retail on Companies House. After all the dead ends, we’re not expecting much.
But: “he’s not at home at the time,” she says.
“Do you know how we could contact him?”
The young woman pauses for a moment and then steps fully into the doorway and begins to speak. Ahsan has already given his statement to the police and the building’s landlord, she tells us, everything is done. He’s very disappointed. Her voice wavers. He’d only bought 105 Union Street two weeks ago.
No, he wasn’t there on the day, a worker was in charge.
The intercom begins to shrill on and off.
Ahsan doesn’t own the business in Hamilton, she says, identifying herself as his wife, and he has no connection to Mohammed Ali or ‘Pasha Khan’. The shop at 105 Union Street was his first venture.
This doesn’t explain how Ahsan was listed as the owner of Junaid Retail in July 2025 but the young woman isn’t able to shed further light on this.
A man’s voice calls her name from somewhere upstairs. “Yes?” she answers and barrels out into the corridor.
When she returns a minute later, despite her continued politeness, it’s clear we need to wind up our visit. We hand her our contact details to pass onto Ahsan.
“We forget our loss, when we see all [the other] businesses destroyed, it’s very painful,” she says, waving us out of the door.
Downstairs, we linger for a moment — was the man’s voice we heard Ahsan Ali’s, hiding out upstairs? If so, we don’t want to harass a shellshocked couple. But we also want to confirm our findings at the source — and clear up the length of his ownership tenure of Junaid Retail. We turn back, traipse up the stairs and knock one more time. The only answer is the sound of the door being double locked.
Loose ends
After that meeting, we come back to the office and the remaining pieces for this particular puzzle start falling into place.
A contact finally comes up with a number for Ijaz Sarwar. “As-salamu alaykum,” answers a gentle voice when we ring it. But when he hears we’re journalists, the shutters go down. All new questions should be directed to the new owner of the business — who he confirms to be Ahsan Ali.
“I sold it two weeks ago,” says Sarwar. “Very grief and sorrow time. Everyone is in pain, we are hopeful it will pass through with unity.” Then he hangs up. When we text him to ask for a copy of the lease sale, he again points us to Ahsan Ali.
Ahsan ignores our calls, but does respond via text to express his sadness. “I am much in grief and standing with all,” he writes. He says he is experiencing the same pain as everyone, “Because we are [...] part of this community”. “It’s hurtful and [sad] thing [that is] happened. It’s much disappointing,” he signs off.
However, he doesn’t address our detailed list of questions about the business, including asking why he was listed as the sole director of Junaid Limited nine months before everyone agrees he actually took control of the 105 Union Street premises.
At least we get one conclusive answer: going back to Pasha Khan again, we confirm what we already suspected: that he and Mohammed Ali are one and the same man. He’s spoken to Derek Souter and has become enormously helpful as a result. “If you need something, I’m here”.
Additional reporting by Calum Grewar
