A FAMILY business went up in smoke today following a fire at a children's clothing warehouse.

Devastated owners Mr A G Patel and his wife Zubeda could only watch in disbelief as firemen sifted through the smoking ruins of their UK Fashions business off Juniper Street in Blackburn's Bastwell district. Mr Patel said the warehouse contained around £95,000 worth of stock but it was too early to say how much had been damaged.

Mrs Patel was fighting back tears as she watched the smoke pour from the roof of the single-storey building. "We had all the stock in ready to deliver it on Sunday and Monday," she said. "Now it's ruined.

"Someone has done this deliberately. When we came it was like a fireball in there."

Mr and Mrs Patel set up the business in 1989, supplying

childrenswear and school uniforms all over Britain and even parts of Europe.

The fire was spotted at about 7.20 am but was well established before firefighters were able to bring it under control.

They had to tear down steel shutter doors to get at the main section containing the clothing.

Firefighters are still investigating the cause of the blaze.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.