People

Before July 1st, calling into a Middle Eastern café in Cheetham Hill or Rusholme would have been an exotic encounter with the world of shisha. But no longer.

Fined: customers at the Shesha Lounge

Shisha involves inhaling the smoke from fruit-scented tobacco filtered through ornate water pipes and breathed in through a hose. Widespread in the Arab world, it’s traditionally practised by groups of men in cafés and has been growing in popularity in the UK.

Now three shisha smokers have become the first individuals in Manchester to be fined for flouting the UK ban on smoking in public places. And shisha cafes are closing across Manchester as a result.

Exactly one month into the ban, City Council environment officers visiting the Shesha Lounge in Cheetham Hill handed out £50 on-the-spot fines to three customers. The council is now considering taking the owners to court where a £2,500 fine could be imposed.

Hisham Baddar is originally from Jerusalem and runs the Bawadi Café next door. He's not a shisha smoker but says the ban has definitely affected his regular customers.

"Normally they used to order a shisha after meals and they enjoy it a lot. It's part of our culture this shisha thing."

So should shisha be exempt?

Yes: Hisham says shisha is harmless

Yes:

• The Save the Shisha campaign is trying to raise £20,000 for a judicial review of the ban. It claims that shisha is less harmful than cigarettes, involving low levels of nicotine and that non-smokers are not affected by passive smoking.
• Campaign leaders argue that shisha is a social activity which takes place in a safe environment free from drink or drugs, shared by young and old, and which has helped to reduce cultural barriers.
• They’re also calling for an exemption from the ban on cultural grounds, as in the US. Some Muslim smokers say that as they don’t drink or go to pubs, the cafes are the hub of their social life.

No:

• Manchester City Council says it’s committed to enforcing the government ban which outlaws all smoking in public places including shisha cafés.
• Government officials say all forms of smoking are harmful to health and that shisha smoking has not been included in the exemptions.

Deputy Council leader Jim Battle said: "The City Council has tried to work with businesses, including Shesha Lounge, to achieve compliance. However, the approach of this business left the City Council with no choice but to take action."