Health and wellbeing Smoking Shisha

Shisha and the law for bar-owners

The law classes shisha smoking the same as cigarette smoking.

It is illegal to smoke shisha in an enclosed public space, or a space that's mostly-enclosed.

To smoke in any public premises with a roof, at least half the wall space must be open.

If people are smoking shisha in your premises YOU are committing a criminal offence.

Bar owners and managers face fines of:

  • up to £2,500 for allowing smoking in a smoke-free place
  • up to £1,000 for not displaying a no-smoking sign.

If you want to make structural changes to your premises to allow legal shisha smoking refer to our planning and building control sections.

You can report a smokefree problem.

Was this page helpful?

Fields marked * cannot be left blank

Feedback submitted to us on this form is monitored but you won’t receive a reply. In an emergency, visit our emergency contact details page. Please don't include any personal or financial information, for example your National Insurance or credit card numbers.