The owner of a Glasgow kosher deli and café which has reopened 18 months after a major fire has thanked his “amazing” clients for their loyalty.

Mark’s Deli boss Mark Cohen said that after the blaze, which gutted the interior and left the building without a roof, “they followed us round the corner to a temporary shop. They were so nice and loyal.

“I had little old ladies telling me I could use their spare freezer if I wanted to. The [Giffnock and Newlands] shul also really helped by allowing us to use their kitchen to make our cholent, latkes and gefilte fish.”

The restored premises were “bigger, better and shinier. The café’s double the size and the kitchen’s bigger. Everyone’s who’s been missing us loves that we’re back.

“We’ve been struggling to produce enough latkes for Chanucah. We started counting in hundreds, now we’re counting thousands. Then we’ll be back on to kosher haggis.”

Although the past 18 months had been “an absolute headache”, the effort had been worth it, Mr Cohen reflected.
But he vowed never again to be involved in the construction of something that was not from Ikea.