A PREGNANT mum who lost her home and business during a devastating fire says thousands of pounds of stock has been destroyed – at a time when business was at it’s peak.

Lucie Bradley, 38, looked on in disbelief as her home on the corner of Albert Drive and Kenmure Street in Pollokshields went up in flames on Wednesday – just months after another blaze back in November.

The self-employed medical herbalist told the Glasgow Times how she feels “really lucky” that she and her daughter, who were in the flat at the time, didn’t suffer any “drastic” impact from the fire.

She said: “It could have been much worse.

“It wasn’t too traumatic, we weren’t subject to smoke or anything like that, we got out before anything too drastic happened.”

Glasgow Times:

READ MORE: Pregnant mum loses home and business during devastating Albert Drive fire

Reflecting on watching her flat went up in flames, she said: “I just couldn’t believe it was happening to us – because it had already just happened in November.

“I was just in total disbelief.”

Lucie provides one-to-one consultations with a large patient base – with people choosing to see her as an alternative to a doctor.

She says that the reliance on her to provide people with their prescribed herbal medicine is “causing the most stress” – but hopes to start fulfilling them again within a month.

Glasgow Times:

That comes after almost £10,000 was donated by generous supporters in just a few days to help her family stay afloat.

She said: “I had a stock of herbal medicine in my home which is thousands of pounds worth of stock - bottles and mixtures and dried herbs, that’s one aspect which will be tricky.”

Lucie also launched her own product line in 2018 – which she says customers saw as a “reliable source” for high-quality therapeutic herbs.

That batch of stock was also lost, as was her database of client prescriptions – at a time when demand was sky-high as a result of the coronavirus.

She explained: “Just prior to the fire, I was at triple the demand for my medicine, almost quadruple.

“One of the great things about herbal medicine is that it fills a gap where pharmaceutical medicine doesn’t have anything – often herbalists deal with chronic illnesses, complex medical situations and then viruses is something we deal a lot with.

“So with the coronavirus we were seeing a huge surge in demand.”

Lucie, who has a six-year-old and parents two further children, aged five and two, with partner Mohammed, is also six-months pregnant.

She insists that her health is great – both physically and mentally – despite the traumatic few days.

Her family have since moved into a new flat, with the help of one of her patients, as she thanks those who dug deep to donate to the fundraiser.

Glasgow Times:

Lucie said: “It’s unbelievable, it’s unreal.

“Something that has been so important to be through my business is having good networks and that network is being so supportive.

“When you are building a business it can be quite isolating and you chip away trying to build networks but worry what is the point – but this proves why it’s worth building the relationships.”

Lucie hopes that once the crowdfunding money is processed – in around two weeks time – she can begin to restock her apothecary and begin fulfilling the more essential prescriptions.

Around 10 fire engines were called to Albert Drive on Wednesday evening to tackle the blaze in the tenement building.

The pharmacist on the ground floor of the building has also had to relocate.

Pictures from the scene taken on Saturday show the large tower at the corner of the building has been removed during emergency works.

Glasgow Times:

Despite the tragedy, Lucie insists that the strong community spirit – which was so prominent after the first Albert Drive fire – will pull them back to Pollokshields.

She said: “Other people in the area, some of our neighbours, the community needs some support.

“There has been two fires in such a short space of time, people want to reinvest in it.

“We love the community we live in and want to give back, that is so important after being displaced.

“We love where we live and the community and want to be back there as soon as possible.”

It is understand that workmen were working on the roof of the building on the afternoon of the fire, having been seen in a crane.

There is no suggestion the work was linked to the fire.

You can find out more about Lucie's business by searching 'Lucie Bradley Consultant Medical Herbalist and Massage Therapist' on Facebook.

And you can view the fundraiser here.