A SHISHA lounge that breached smoke-free regulations has been ordered to pay a total of £8,500 in fines and costs after being convicted of a series of offences.
Environmental health officers from the public safety team at Leicester City Council made visits to Amoura Lounge - a restaurant on two floors at 25 Royal East Street, Leicester, which also offers shisha for smoking. Officers visited in April and June last year as part of work to check its compliance with smoke-free regulations.
Premises legally have to be more than 50 per cent open to the air for smoking to be permitted. Inspectors found the premises to fall short of that, but on both occasions they witnessed groups of people smoking on the premises.
On both occasions, officers left a report with staff stating that smoking must cease with immediate effect until such time as the premises were less than 50% enclosed.
Inspectors also served an improvement notice, ordering the bar to supply details of its health and safety risk assessment by 22 May 2024. This was not provided.
Representatives from Amoura Lounge attended the court hearing on 5th February.
Leicester magistrates fined the business a total of £2,500, plus a victim surcharge of £1,000 and ordered that they contribute £5,000 towards costs.
Leicester City Council’s head of regulatory services, Rachel Hall, said: “Smoke-free legislation is designed to protect the public and employees from the inhalation of second-hand smoke, which is known to cause serious health issues, including forms of cancer. It’s also very important that businesses comply with health and safety laws that are there to keep everyone safe.
“The message is clear: all shisha café owners in Leicester must operate within the law and their premises will be visited regularly. If they don’t comply then they can expect robust and appropriate enforcement action to protect employees and customers alike.”
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