Councils should be allowed to ‘opt-in’ to license shisha bars, says LGA

Councils need stronger powers to tackle shisha bars that repeatedly flout smoking and fire safety laws, the Local Government Association has said.

The LGA noted how the number of shisha bars had more than trebled in recent years but warned that this increase had led to persistent anti-social behaviour. Some bars were linked to organised crime, it added.

The Association claimed that prosecutions were taking up to a year and bar owners were increasingly undeterred by one-off fines of up to £2,500.

“This leaves councils struggling to regulate persistent offenders who can easily reopen shisha cafes under a new name,” it said.

The Association also claimed that the true ownership of shisha premises was “often deliberately secretive”, which hindered the ability of councils and police to take effective action against them.

The LGA said the government should modernise the list of activities councils can ‘opt-in’ to license.

“This would provide flexibility for individual councils to adopt local licensing schemes to cover modern and emerging risks, such as shisha bars, if there are concerns about how they are operating,” it argued. 

“Councils could then vet licence holders in advance of premises opening, more easily monitor shisha bars and cafes for harmful activity and seize equipment or revoke licences for repeat offenders breaching licensing conditions or breaking the law.”

Cllr Simon Blackburn, Chair of the LGA’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said: “The growing popularity of shisha bars and the lawless way some of them are being run exposes the loopholes that exist in our out-dated and inflexible licensing system. The Government needs to make it easier for individual councils to regulate rogue shisha bars by giving them the power to license and regulate them in their areas.

“Most owners want to run their businesses responsibly but councils need tougher powers to take action against those deliberately exploiting the law due to gaps between different frameworks. Smoke-free laws are not offering strong enough punishments to deter irresponsible shisha bar owners who are making lucrative profits, which means councils often need to carry out costly and lengthy investigations to take action against the same bar over and over again.”

Cllr Blackburn added: “Children often accompany adults in shisha bars and need protection from passively breathing in smoke which is especially toxic as it contains high carbon monoxide levels.

“We would always rather work with shisha bars to ensure they operate legally rather than prosecute them, but café owners are more likely to obey the law if they knew they might lose their licence.”