According to the reports from SWNS and Daily Mirror, the Cheetham Hill area in Manchester has become one of the regions with the densest electronic cigarette retail outlets in the UK. There are a total of 54 electronic cigarette stores distributed across two adjacent streets.
It is reported that there are 30 e-cigarette stores on Harris Street and 24 on Overbridge Road. This area is adjacent to the Strangeways region, which was once known as the “European counterfeiting capital” and was famous for a large number of counterfeit clothing stores.
In 2022, the Greater Manchester Police launched “Operation Vulcan” to combat organized crime. In 2024, the police released data showing that during the operation, nearly 1,050 tons of counterfeit goods were seized, 216 counterfeit shops were closed, 238 people were arrested, over 500,000 pounds in cash was confiscated, and nearly 400,000 illegal electronic cigarettes were seized.
The merchants stated that as the counterfeit goods stores were closed, some of the shop spaces were converted to be used for selling electronic cigarettes. Kamran Akhtar, the store manager of a store named The Vape Boyz on Harris Street, said that most of the electronic cigarette stores in this area engaged in wholesale business, supplying products to retailers in Scotland, Wales, London, Bristol and Yorkshire.
The Manchester Trading Standards Department stated that they have noticed an increase in the number of e-cigarette stores in the area and have carried out enforcement actions in the past few years, seizing e-cigarettes and counterfeit e-liquids worth over 70,000 pounds.
According to data from the Office for National Statistics of the United Kingdom, by 2025, approximately 5.5 million British adults will be using e-cigarettes, accounting for about 10% of the adult population. In 2024, the number of e-cigarette users exceeded that of smokers, among which 55% were former smokers and about 40% were dual users.
The high concentration of e-cigarette stores in this area reflects both the transformation of the local commercial structure and the growing demand for e-cigarettes in the UK.