The Manchester Evening News reports that the growth of shisha bars is crowding out the existing restaurants on Rusholme’s famous “Curry Mile”. There are now 28 Shisha bars along the famous road, it says, but just 12 sit-down curry houses left. Well, so what, society changes and moves on, and it was always on the cards that, as soon as the “Curry Mile” started being promoted as a tourist attraction in its own right, it would begin to decline. Many of the comments say, in effect, that it’s no longer what it was.
There are also complaints that “some of the shisha bars are allowing customers to flout the smoking ban and illegally smoke shisha indoors.” Good luck to them – I certainly wouldn’t want the City Council to devote any further scarce resources to mounting a crackdown. But you can’t help thinking that, if it had been pubs allowing indoor smoking, they would have been down on them like a ton of bricks.
Slightly disingenuous there, Curmudgeon. You wouldn't want a crackdown even if the council was rolling in cash.
ReplyDeleteBut neither would I take a dog-in-the-manger attitude and advocate that shisha bars should be treated harshly just because pubs have been.
ReplyDeleteHi there PC, already on the trail so to speak and have the National Association of Shisha Bar Owners already in business. Check us out here:- http://www.nasbouk.co.uk/
ReplyDeleteWe've been waiting for the crackdown to be publicly announced after a council EHO declared that there was no such thing here in Leicester! See, it doesn't matter where they are based, they lie, it's 2nd nature to them! Give us a look over and spread the word please PC for we have Dr Kamal Chaouachi onboard-the worlds leading shisha/hookah expert! ;)
Coincidentally a work colleague mentioned these places last week. I asked if smoking was on the pavement under three sides exposed shelters. He said, no, it was inside. I too say good luck to them. In the past, the MEN has reported numerous prosecutions of Shisha bars, so I don't know what's going on on now.
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