Boom in shisha cafes prompts calls for licensing crackdown

Water pipes have had a surge in popularity – but they're more damaging than cigarettes, health campaigners say
shisha cafe camden
Smokers at a shisha cafe in the Stables Market, Camden, north London. Photograph: Gregory Wrona/Alamy

Shisha cafe culture is spreading across the UK, prompting health campaigners to call for venues allowing customers to smoke the distinctive pipes to be subject to tough new licensing laws.


A survey soon to be published by the anti-smoking group Ash says an increasing number of people have tried smoking shisha pipes. "Around one in 10 adults have tried shisha but sustained use is very rare," an Ash spokesman said. "Users are typically younger men and from particular ethnic communities."

Figures collected by the British Heart Foundation detail a 210% increase in the number of shisha bars in the UK over five years. In 2007, there were estimated to be 179 bars, compared with 556 this year.

In some cities the number of shisha cafes is soaring. Manchester City Council has launched an eight-week health awareness campaign warning of the health risks of smoking shisha pipes after finding that around 30 new shisha bars had opened in the city since 2009.

"There has been an alarming rise in the number of shisha bars and the number of young people taking up smoking through this route," the city's public health director, David Regan, told Environmental Health News.


"The worrying perception is that shisha is safer than cigarettes, but it's not," said Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation. "Despite the wholesome-sounding flavours, shisha tobacco is just as dangerous and is linked to the same life-threatening diseases, such as heart disease and cancer."

Knapton said there was a need for a change in the law.

"At the moment, you don't need a licence to sell tobacco and shisha but we'd like this to change," he said. "Positive licensing means local councils would have the power to control the number of places selling tobacco and shisha in their area and monitor places for harmful activity such as underage smoking, or smoking indoors. It also means we'd know definitively how many shisha bars there were, and where they were located, so we could target health awareness campaigns more effectively."

This year the BHF staged pretend shisha lounges at a number of festivals around the UK, which showed a short film on the health risks of shisha pipes.

In Westminster, there are now an estimated 150 shisha cafes. The council says some are allowing customers to smoke inside – the equivalent of a pub lock-in – and it has taken action in recent months against a number of shisha cafes that let customers smoke in their basements.

"The smoking ban was introduced for health reasons and there have been several prosecutions where shisha has been smoked in the basements of premises, whch really is playing fast and loose with people's wellbeing," said Alastair Moss, Westminster city council's deputy cabinet member for the built environment.

"Because of the smoking ban, more and more shisha activity is appearing outside the front and rears of cafes. The trend shows no signs of slowing and the concentration of smells appears to be another issue we will have to look at."