Shisha smoked out of Islington

By Andrew MacAskill

Turkish restaurants in Islington may be forced out of business when the new smoking legislation comes into force in July.
Middle Eastern restaurant owners across the borough have joined a national campaign to make shisha exempt from the incoming legislation.
Shisha is a stand-up water pipe device used to smoke flavoured tobacco, popular in the Arab community. It will be outlawed along with cigarettes and cigars in bars, restaurants and coffee shops.

Akala-Ali, who runs the Café Gallipoli on Upper Street, is encouraging his customers in his restaurant to sign a petition on the Number 10 website calling for shisha to be excluded from the ban. The petition has received 1500 signatures so far.
Customers pay eight pounds to smoke a pipe in the Café Galliopli and Mr Ali is concerned the loss of income will ruin his business.
He said: “This time next year I don't know what I will do, or if the restaurants will be open. People come to the restaurant in order to smoke shisha and an important source of income is from shisha.”
The owner of the Café Bazaar restaurant on Caledonian Road, Omeed Naziori, is also concerned about the impact of the ban and argues smoking shisha should be exempt because it less harmful than inhaling smoke from cigarettes.
“Smoking hookah contains less tobacco and nicotine than cigarettes, so it poses less of a danger,” Naziori said. “Forcing people to smoke shisha at home will increase exposes children and young people to the harms of secondhand smoke.”
The Department of Health disputes this. They claim shisha is worse for peoples’ health than cigarettes, saying that whereas a cigarette lasts around ten puffs, the average shisha session lasts 80 minutes, the equivalent of 100 puffs.
Ibrahim El-Nour, who co-ordinates a pro-shisha smoking campaign group is now considering bringing the ban to judicial review, on the grounds the government did properly consult the café owners and restaurant owners.
El Nour also argues it is a violation of his human rights, and banning smoking shisha will take away an important social activity for the Muslim community, who use it as an alternative to drinking alcohol, which is forbidden in Islam.
“To ban smoking shisha is an attack on a way of life for many Arab people.
Smoking shisha is a way for people from the community to come together,” he said. “Shisha is the equivalent of a pint in the pub. A nascent part of British culture will be lost if the ban stands.”

Read More......