The area has become overrun by vape shops (Image: Getty)
With 54 shops across two adjacent streets, a quiet UK suburb has recently turned into the “biggest vape market in Europe”. The area has suffered from a drop in footfall over recent years with one shop owner describing it as “dead”.
Greater Manchester Police launched Operation Vulcan in autumn 2022, which targeted areas across the city that were plagued by crimes. One of the areas of focus was Cheetham Hill which was previously dubbed the “counterfeit goods capital of Britain” and known for being a hotspot for serious organised gang activity.
By 2024, the operation had led to the closure of 216 counterfeit shops in Cheetham Hill, with 238 people arrested, and the seizure of £500,000 in cash as well as 1,000 tonnes of goods, class C drugs worth £2.4million and 400,000 illicit vapes.
As reported by the Daily Mail, the operation made Cheetham Hill safer but the closure of shops led to a 30% fall in customer footfall. Manchester City Council has since spent £100,000 on improving the area’s high street but it continues to struggle.
Many of the shop units have since been taken over by vape businesses, with 30 situated on the 130 metre-long Harris Street. Meanwhile, there are a further 24 vape shops on the 300-metre adjoining Overbridge Road.
Maiwand Safi, who has worked at the Mughul Grill And Coffee in Cheetham Hill since 2012, said: “Before, our takeaway shop was very busy.”
Surbir Arora, who owns a grocery store in the area, added: “But now, we are a little bit quiet. Now it’s all mobile shops and vape shops. The police closed everything.
There are 24 vape shops on the 300-metre adjoining Overbridge Road (Image: Google Maps Street View)
“After that, you can see, all the shops are shut down now. It is not very good. I am looking for another place, because this place is dead.”
However, Kamran Akhtar, the manager at The Vape Boyz on Harris Street, explained how customers come from far and wide to buy vapes from the area. He said he gets regular customers from Bradford and Liverpool, with some travelling from as far as Glasgow and Edinburgh.
According to Mr Akhtar, Cheetham Hill has become the “biggest vape market in Europe, never mind Britain”. He added that the area has become far safer since Operation Vulcan was launched.
Likewise, Isa Cheema, 21, who works in Astro vape shop, explained how the area was previously overrun by drug dealers “armed with knives”. He believes it is far safer now but adds it is “pretty mad how many vape shops there are here”.
Vape shops have taken over the area of Manchester (Image: Getty Images)
On the situation in Cheetham Hill, John Leech, Liberal Democrat leader of the opposition on Manchester City Council, said: “They’ve chosen to relax planning rules so authorities do not have the strength to reject the proliferation of vape shops. A shop that might have been a greengrocer in the past might have been replaced by a similar one. But now it can be replaced by anything.”
The UK’s vaping market is worth around £2.5 billion. However, there is a significant Chinese influence with around 80% of the world’s vapes produced in China.
Mr Cheema said the shops in Cheetham Hill get “ambassadors” from China trying to sell their products. Another retailer claimed some Chinese manufacturers are willing to pay as much as £3,000 a year for a large billboard advertising their vapes.
Graeme Downie (Labour), chairman of the cross-party campaign group, the Coalition On Secure Technology, warned: “The vape in someone’s pocket really could be used to quietly harvest data or track their movements. Millions of these smart vapes are manufactured in China where the state has sweeping powers over industry, raising serious questions about where data could end up and who can access it.”