The owners of a fire-ravaged Fulham pet shop have vowed to rebuild their half century-old business and have thanked the community for it's 'humbling' support in the wake of Monday's devastating blaze.

Scores of animals were killed when the fire broke out at The Fish Bowl in Dawes Road in the early hours of the morning, including the shop's beloved cat, Jasper, and its three parrots, one of which had been there 28 years.

Despite losing much of their stock, which included fish, birds, rabbits, lizards, snakes and guinea pigs, and seeing most of the shop damaged by smoke, owners Jenny and Peter Johnson were back trading on Tuesday morning, selling what little goods they had left.

Mrs Johnson, who started the business with her husband 49 years ago, says she has been overwhelmed by the support of the community following the tragedy, and said she owed it to her eight staff and loyal customers to rebuild the shop.

"I feel very humbled by the support," she said. "It's going to be a massive clean-up job but we will do it. We were out here the morning after at the front door, serving people what we could. The Fish Bowl isn't going to go anywhere."

Mrs Johnson said the loss of Jasper and her parrots was particularly hard to take. "It's horrible for everyone. We were Jasper's fourth owners after he just turned up one day. He used to chase dogs out of the shop he didn't like and everyone loved him.

"The only saving grace is there were no human lives lost."

Nearly 60 firefighters battled the flames for more than three hours and evacuated 18 surrounding flats as a precaution. The brigade said the shop had no smoke alarms.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation but it is not thought to be suspicious.

Pictured: The Fish Bowl owner, Jenny Johnson, and staff member Dan Bristow outside the shop in Dawes Road (Pic: Fulham Chronicle).