Furniture shop Quirky Interiors has suffered a severe fire that has completely destroyed the business.

The family-run company, which is based at Beech Farm in St Albans, saw 10 fire engines, five officers and other specialist units attend the blaze as well as a command unit, water bowser and aerial ladder platform.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but is understood it could be an electrical fault, with the blaze contained within the building by the fire crews. There were no reported injuries.

In a statement on social media, Catherine Petre, one of the owners said: “Everything has gone. Those of you that know us and have followed James will understand that this building and this business was everything to him. He literally put blood, sweat & tears into his work. He came here to work, to escape, to toil and to create. He is always experimenting, collecting and trialling new things. 30 years of his favourite antiques, tools, new machines – everything is beyond destroyed.

“I drove there having seen smoke from our house and couldn’t reach James on his phone. As I approached, I could see it was our farm, then our building unit and I was terrified – thank God, I found him but I thought he had gone too. All we have left is the mask he wore to try and put the fire out before it overwhelmed him. Amazing help from the guy’s next door who got him to get out.

“We had such hopes and dreams – we had just got the unit transformed to have a space for me to take my workshop classes – the new metal finishes and furniture range that he’s been working tirelessly on, were really starting to really get noticed and we had a real excitement for the future.

“We don’t know what is going to happen but we will try to rebuild somehow.”