Money laundering fronts/shops/cafes...how is your high st..??

[bumblebee1000]

Just curious really.....our high street now has appx 9 cafes all have the same flashy design and interior, some have a shisha area out back. very very few customers, just the odd few, males chain smoking and glued to phones, never see any women inside or outside in smoking areas, often big expensive cars parked outside. Also have the 4 barber shops which are always empty and now have one of those american candy and vape shops, this shop sold my friend fake tobacco yesterday and offered him a load of duty free tobacco from Holland, he has reported this shop to trading standards and hmrc as threw away the tobacco. So how is your high street....is it similar ? Has anyone reported these places and seen any action. Personally find them depressing. we are in London.

Well the American candy shops on Oxford Street got cracked down on.

Sadly we have too many phone shops which surely cannot make enough money to be a real business. But it's not too bad.

Birmingham specialises in nitrous oxide shops masquerading as 24/7 general shops. Also loads of cafes, restaurants, barbers and now the odd American Candy shop.
With a bankrupt council and police force MIA I guess they're quids in.

East London and regular stream of likely money laundering shops. Plenty of nice normal shops or cafes too though so not all bad

Nothing like that round our way in south Wales. The cafés all seem genuine. Lots of actual customers (or not, and struggling).

It's not too bad where I live (rural north). I remember in my uni days visiting Annabelinda, the front shop for Howard Marks which was still going strong even after he named it in his best selling memoir.
Is crime on the rise do you think or just getting more visible? It does shocks me a little that it's all out in plain sight with the authorities seemingly doing nothing. I live on the straight and narrow and struggle in all aspects. Maybe I should turn to crime as it seems to be the thing these days... 😇

No, none of those shops in my city.

It's not always easy to tell. I'm sure you're right that the some of the shisha places are fake, for example but, OTOH, what you are describing - no women and a bunch of men hanging out for hours - is the norm for shisha cafés the world over.

But, yeah, your general point that there are loads of money-laundering shops is 100% correct.

I've not seen anything like that where I live. I suspect they probably exist but they must be better at hiding it.

Where do you live OP?

One here in my home town in Fife. Just as you describe.

No. Small rural town . We've got a couple of nail bars and a hideous American ice cream shop but they are busy. A few Turkish barbers that also seem to have normal customers.
Anything more dubious would stand out like a sore thumb. We have county lines and a tiny 'red light' area but the police hassle them regularly.
Local crime is more nicking tractors and hare coursing.

OP I live in Peckham and on the high street there are plenty of nail shops etc all cash in hand so clearly something dodgy going on re tax... but all very very busy and groaning with real customers! However there are also a handful of furniture shops that are soooooo naff and awful (and always completely empty) that are clearly fronts for something. What I find odd is that that Oxford Street / the west end is so full of shops that are clearly fronts and then the less salubrious areas less so... I hate walking past all the shisha bars in the west end, always full of glowering leering men. I know people love going on about how 'coffee shop culture' in Europe is so nice but I think that anything that gets loads of purposeless men sat around together for hours on end is a bad thing... the feminisation of most pubs was a good thing!

We have one empty shisha shop, two American candy shops, two ice cream parlours, two cake shops, a vape shop (that was previously a sandwich shop that couldn't make sandwiches,) and a couple of barbers. All who seem to exist magically without customers. Large town in Hampshire.

Playing spot the money laundering front is one of my favorite games. The council and police clearly don't have the resources to keep up.

In Birmingham I think we’re up to about 14 “Bob shops” now. All tiny convenience stores with awning at the front with crates of pop/bottles of water and toilet rolls under the awning. Garish flashing lights too.
Everyone knows they’re a front for laundering/drug dealing. In my area there’s about 5 phone shops with with old phone accessories.

WhereI live there is a sweet shop which is clearly a front. People have reported it as their children have been offered drugs in there.
I won’t use Chinese nail bars, lots where I live. You don’t book appointments and it’s cash only. Too much chance of being linked to people trafficking and criminals for my liking. They seem busy now but in the new year they will be dead.
On the other hand all of the cafes are good and busy. None like the op describes, they would stick out like a sore thumb.
I’m in Yorkshire.

Dessert shops are the latest fad in money laundering if my high street is anything to go by. Three shops at least, I see no customers in there when I pass. One never has staff in either.

I really don't understand how these places can get away with it. It doesn't take a genius to work out that a nail bar taking cash only with a big sign saying so in the window might not be paying their taxes or paying their staff properly. The local council should report them to HMRC for investigation but they just seek to be happy to turn a blind eye.

That’s been my thought about the number of dessert shops which have popped up in the last couple of years.

Theres a barbers shop local to me which is definitely fronting drugs, gives a whole new meaning to “something for the weekend sir?”

Our village is thankfully squeaky clean. A handful of cafes, a Sainsbury’s local, a florist, a few hairdressers, a couple of barbers (that do both seem to get used), a selection of gift/home stores, a bakery, an old fashioned newsagents/sweet/toy shop, an off license, a few estate agents, a few pubs, a charity shop, an optician, a dentist, a podiatrist, and a hardware store. If anyone’s money laundering it’s not overt!

We have seen a couple of these cafes on my high street open up this year....both annoyingly replaced proper businesses, had huge make overs before opening, now open 24-7 and always empty except for a couple of men smoking on phones and if you do go in they've no stock. A new dessert place just opened too but that at least seems to have customers and cakes. We're in NE London.

See also hand car washes that take cash only. Incredibly dodgy for modern slavery too.

We've got this general store that has about 2 shelves of stock. I'm no expert but logic tells me that if you're going to fork out for all that rent you'd want to be turning over more sales than a few half empty shelves.

There's also far more barbers than you'd think we'd need but it's not obvious which ones are the money laundering ones.

No it's independent gift shops, charity shops, high end coffee shops (packed with dogs as they all have lengthy dog menus!) boutiques, and an absence of banks, post offices or anything else vaguely useful!!!

There are barbers but they have customers too

We’ve got a Chinese restaurant round the corner from us that has been open for decades. I have never seen a customer inside it, or know anyone who has eaten there.

Loads near me (London). Cafes that keep minimal hours, no one ever in there.

There are also loads of cafes that are really men's clubs, but I don't think they're money laundering, just social places that men go. They're usually small and seem to sell enough coffee and snacks