A NIGHTMARE came true for Geoff Cook when a suspected arson attack on Saturday saw his £50,000 stock of rare books go up in flames.
The fire sparked shortly before 1am and quickly spread to the back of his Kimbrose Way base.
Neighbours were evacuated from their homes as smoke and seven foot high flames poured from the building.
Firefighters tackled the blaze and the area remained cordoned off over the weekend while police investigated.
The fire decimated a storage room with more than 6,000 books in it.
Mr Cook said he was in shock over the loss.
Just last August he was left relieved when the very same building narrowly avoided being damaged by another suspected arson attack in the yard.
But the 62-year-old has now had to shut down the book business he spent a decade building from scratch and expects to have to lay off a member of staff.
He said: "I'll probably wake up screaming tomorrow. It has been completely blown out of the sky and I'm gutted.
"There were mostly non-fiction books ranging from £10 to £600 in there, everything you could think of from A to Z and I spent years collecting them."
The fire did not touch the main part of his shop and his framing business was open as usual on Saturday.
The Cheltenham resident said: "Hopefully we will keep going as no one else is going to offer me a job at my age."
Originally from Norfolk, Mr Cook went into the RAF and, aged 21, was dropped off in Gloucester with a £1 note in his hand.
A love of art led him to set up his framing business in 1987 and he built it up from nothing.
Southgate Street neighbour Mark Sooley was woken by the fire and rang 999.
He said: "There were seven foot flames coming out of the roof and I was worried it would spread to other buildings.
"Geoff really doesn't deserve this. He is such a nice man.
"I feel totally gutted for him."
Police have appealed for witnesses to come forward but said they are not linking it to previous fires in the area. Call 101, quoting incident number 27 of July 23.
A 30-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of arson in connection with the fire and released on bail.
