Recently, the Manchester Evening News reported that four counties in Greater Manchester were ranked in the top ten of the UK’s ‘e-cigarette capitals’. Go Smoke Free, an online e-cigarette shop, found that Bolton, Manchester, Salford and Stockport had the highest number of certified e-cigarette retailers.
Underage e-cigarette smoking is reportedly worst in the north-west of England. This comes after the UK government announced plans to ban the sale of disposable e-cigarettes in England, Scotland and Wales in response to the rise in e-cigarette smoking among young people.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will implement the ban, which is expected to be in place by 2025. Existing laws place strict limits on the amount of nicotine and tobacco oil that disposable e-cigarettes can contain.
Go Smoke Free claims that e-cigarette smoking is most prevalent among teenagers in the North West of England and that 7 per cent of teenagers in the region use e-cigarettes on a regular basis, based on data from the NHS. The company also announced the top 10 “e-cigarette capitals” in the UK based on the number of e-cigarette retailers per capita in each region.
Go Smoke Free searched the Companies House website for registered businesses selling tobacco products in specialist shops in the UK and then compared the number of these businesses to the population of each town or city.
At the top of the list is Blackburn, with 27 registered e-cigarette retailers serving 119,700 residents. In second place is Bolton, with 20.26 registered e-cigarette shops for every 100,000 residents. Bolton has 41 registered e-cigarette shops serving 202,369,000 residents.
Manchester came third with 110 e-cigarette shops, corresponding to 19.84 per 100,000 residents. Salford is ranked fifth with 14 registered e-cigarette shops, corresponding to 12.03 per 100,000 residents. Stockport was sixth, with 10.91 retailers per 100,000 residents.
A spokesperson for Go Smoke Free said: ‘Disposable e-cigarettes have gained popularity in recent years due to their convenience, portability and low cost, attracting a demographic that would otherwise be unlikely to invest in a complex e-cigarette device. The new ban on disposable e-cigarettes should help discourage children from using e-cigarettes while encouraging adults to move towards more sustainable alternatives such as refillable e-cigarettes.”
“This study highlights which areas of the UK are most likely to be affected by the forthcoming ban on the sale of disposable e-cigarettes. Greater Manchester is popular with smokers for its fair distribution of retailers, with Blackburn, Bolton and Manchester City taking the top three spots in the rankings. The e-cigarette culture in these cities is likely to change significantly as the ban impacts on consumer behaviour and existing retailers adapt their offerings to meet the new regulations.”