Why do councils approve so many vape shops on the high street?

[JoyousOpalLemur]

Am I the only one completely baffled by this? I walked down my high street yesterday and another new vape (and sweets) shop has opened. There are now four vape shops that have opened in the last two years! They all seem to be permanently empty.

Why are councils granting planning permission for these shops?

One of the lead stories on the BBC last week was about how at least half of vape shops are linked to organised crime, particularly people and drug smuggling, and money laundering. Apparently many of the vapes they sell are also illegal and many sell tobacco to children.

It's not just the vape shops, three Turkish barbers have opened in the last decade (usually half empty), and three nail bars (to be fair, they tend to be quite busy) since Covid, which also have well known links to laundering the money made from people smuggling.

If councils are so keen on regeneration and local economies, why approve change-of-use for businesses that research shows are disproportionately tied to serious crime? Legitimate businesses are struggling, while these cash-heavy operations seem to get a free pass.

With also several young male Uber Eats riders parked down the high street, it doesn't feel a particularly safe space anymore.

Do councils even consider the crime angle when approving these applications, or is it just about filling empty units at any cost?

TIA for any insights or experiences.

If the police and HM Customs & Revenue know where the illegal activity is likely to be taking place, they can keep an eye on them and they can be investigated on the quiet. Then they can pounce.

As long as business rates are paid to the council, and the landlord or owner of the premises is receiving rent, neither of those entities will care all that much.

Makes sense up to a point, but don"t you need to show till receipts, and isn"t it illegal to refuse card payments? I suspect Reform will go to work on these shops when they are in government, replace them with English bakeries and groceries like the early 80"s in a Midlands village?

Many Reform candidates will probably be the landlords turning a blind eye to the whole thing, sadly.

Possible.

I can only imagine either corruption or no other shop is willing to take on the premises and in their eyes it's better than nothing? Or that some are not licensed but they just pop up and vanish before council can do much.

You can only imagine corruption?

Despite post after post saying that if some premises have a retail license, then any retailer can set up there (provided they aren’t serving food or alcohol which would be a change of use) and it’s not up to the council? Unless the council is also the landlord, which isn’t common.

'I can only imagine corruption or the fact that no other shop wants it so they view it as better than nothing.'

That's what I said.

And I thought they needed to be licensed.

The UK is fast becoming an absolute dump thanks to the lack of action from the Government and Local authorities. Vape shops being just one example.

So why was corruption one of your options?

As for the other - the council also doesn’t have a say, the landlord will let to whoever pays the rent. There are fewer shops willing to open a bricks and mortar site given the prevalence of internet shopping.

Vapes are also available from corner shops etc as were cigarettes for decades. Having a vape only shop doesn’t trigger any other licensing requirements AFAIK.

Bagpuss never had any customers, maybe that was a front for something?

Mouse-smuggling!

Chocolate digestive smuggling

The mice were all on Nitrous Oxide

You can’t just open a takeaway in a unit that used to be a bookshop, you have to apply for a change of use. So the council can refuse the change. A vape shop where there used to be a newsagent, for example, you wouldn’t need to do that.

Report them.

Didn't someone from BBC do something about dodgy vape shops recently.

Ai says
To report a dodgy shop to HMRC for tax fraud, cash-in-hand evasion, or illicit tobacco and alcohol sales, use the official HMRC Report Tax Fraud service. If the issue involves counterfeit goods or under-age sales, also report the shop to Trading Standards via Citizens Advice. 1, 2]
If you are a member of the public, the easiest way to report the business for avoiding taxes or duties is to fill out the HMRC Report Tax Fraud Online Form. For specific issues regarding duty-free or un-taxed alcohol and tobacco, you can use the dedicated HMRC Tobacco and Alcohol Tax Evasion Form. 1]

Rent money. 🤷‍♀️

No of course it isn't, and nor should it be.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg4807pn9lo

Find the journalist on twitter maybe

Let’s hope it gets resolved before Andy Burnham implements the govt devolution…

Then you are asking landlords to turn detective, despite the fact that the police and HMRC are the ones with powers to take action.

Also, I don’t think that’s how the proceeds of crime law works. If you run a beauty salon and I come in and buy a massage from you, you aren’t liable if my money for that comes from fraud or people smuggling or whatever.

It’s ok - that’s not the reason, as per the many subsequent posts.

So there’s no corruption? That’s good to know.

There sadly seems to be no will to do anything. There are five barbers where I live. Five. And fifteen shops in total!! There are simply not enough men here - and fewer still who have enough hair - to make that number of barbers viable.

And each barber has about six blokes in there, all spinning in their chairs on their phones.

I wondered how they could be paid, given that other shops can barely afford one member of staff. Then I read that these blokes are “contracted staff”, meaning they are responsible for their own tax/NI (ie none) instead of being on PAYE.

Everyone knows barbers/vape shops/minimarts are fronts - and yet there seems to be a collective shrug from the powers that be.

This issue is not evidence of corruption.

Hope that’s clearer for you.

You think Reform will stamp out corruption?

This is the funniest post I’ve seen here in a while.

Their dear leader is up to his neck in it!

revealed:%20Nigel%20Farage%20secretly%20funded%20by%20convicted%20criminal%0A%0Ahttps%3A//www.thetimes.com/article/aa2fac13-d28c-48ba-b7d2-e4a809155d00?shareToken=dfbe453a23914c3c9e3774c4ae23d9ff