Jim McGhee, who runs Mitchells’ fruit and vegetable shop in King Street, was loading his lorry when the fire broke out in the early hours at the city’s Blochairn Road facility.
The outbreak was discovered around 3 am and at the height of the blaze,16 fire appliances, including four high-level appliances fought the blaze.
Mr McGhee said: “The fire spread very quickly and it was quite scary. The fire alarms went off and within ten minutes the whole place was ablaze.
“I go to the market two or three times a week. We do wholesale and supply to shops and hotels as well as our shop in King Street.
“The alarms went off and nobody seemed too bothered at first because they do go off sometimes. The next thing there was smoke and a couple of banks like gas canisters exploded.
“I know there is gas at the back and within ten or 15 minutes, the flames were up through the roof and the whole of the bottom end of the market has been gutted.
“The bottom part of the building was on fire and then it jumped across to another part of the building as well.”
Mr Mitchell took his lorry and goods out of the market safely as police and firefighters asked everyone to move away.
He said: “There was just a couple of fire engines to begin with but they must have called for reinforcements. They were having a lot of bother getting water pressure and they were knocking down a wall to get to a water mains.”
By last night there had been no reported injuries or casualties.
