Should the sale of vapes require a licence in the same way as the sale of alcohol?
Selling vapes in the UK currently requires no retail premises or personal licence, though a new scheme for tobacco, vapes and nicotine products is planned for consultation in 2027 and implementation between 2027-2029 under the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026. From 1 October 2026 vaping products carry excise duty and stamps, and from 29 October 2026 sales to under-18s are banned with fixed penalty notices. Alcohol sales require a premises licence under the Licensing Act 2003 with strict conditions on hours, age checks and premises suitability.
21 Opinions
Vape shops have a bad reputation for selling drugs. Just look at the people who hang out round them. A licence may go some way to clean up their act.
Licence and regular checks
Problems starting with vape use now,scarred lungs etc. Typical government instead of being tough and just banning tobacco try other c r a p . Same with smack heads and giving them starters every day. Cold turkey them. Reverse the increase every year.
The more we learn about vapes the more they seem worse for us
Vapes are harmful to health and the environment. They are especially harmful to children., Vape shops can be linked to money laundering and organised crime. This means regulation is absoutely essential.
There appears to be a relationship between Vape shops which also seem to sell all manner of non complementary products and organised crime. Problem is Government knows about these links yet does nothing. So would Licensing be effective or just window dressing. Also no definitive studies as to safety of Vapes so it’s difficult to make policy decisions without a better set of data.
With the goal of identifying the dodgy vapes shops that are used to clean dirty money and not selling illegal imports.
Yes, even as a vaper, as it would go some way toward accountability for those that sell the products and paraphernalia. It would also be a dent in the people-drug-and-money-trafficking vape shops. When it comes to phone clinics, kebab shops and "Turkish" barbers that don't have a single Turk, they can be dealt with in other ways, but the vape shops are an easy tackle.
No. Licensing merely legitimises an industry I would rather see abolished. Ban the sale of vapes outright, shut down retailers operating illegally and impose substantial penalties on those supplying them, particularly to children. Properly fund enforcement against illicit imports and organised distribution. We spent decades tackling nicotine addiction through smoking; we should not be encouraging another generation to become dependent on disposable electronic devices.
We haven’t properly researched the long term health effects of vapes. They should be treated as dangerous until proven otherwise.