Smoking was an epidemic that we had almost made it through. Fewer and fewer people were smoking. Hard work from doctors, activists and educators had actually buffed off some of the shine of smoking, and its public image had gone from cool and rockstar to a carcinogenic inconvenience. It was brilliant! A massive breakthrough in public health – and then it all came crashing down.
Initially a great way for smokers to wean themselves off and overcome their addictions, e-cigarettes eventually became almost as commonplace as cigarettes themselves. Disposable vapes were colourful and tasty, unlike their gritty tobacco-filled cousins, and so began the vape-pocalypse.
Online vape shop Go Smoke Free (GSF) has looked into where exactly the epicentre of this epidemic is, and discovered that Blackburn in Lancashire is officially the UK’s vape capital, with 27 whole shops dedicated to selling them. Just for some perspective, there are only ten Tescos in the town, which has a population of just under 149,000.
Bolton was next, followed by Manchester, Middlesbrough, and Salford. Basically, we’re praying for the Mancunian economy once the government's single-use vape ban goes through.
It’s estimated by the government that nine percent of British children ages 11-15 are now vaping, which could potentially be far more harmful than we currently believe, as studies on long-term effects offer little to go on at the moment. GSF hopes the upcoming ban will ‘help to discourage children from taking up vaping, while encouraging adults to shift to more sustainable alternatives, such as refillable vapes.’
Manchester in the news
Mannie’s been in Time Out’s newsfeed quite a bit in recent weeks. Not only might the northwest English city soon get a cool new market hall, but it’s also the place in the UK where you're most likely to get a parking ticket. It ain’t all bad news though: the best cocktail bar in the UK is also apparently in Manchester.
Did you see that Edinburgh is getting a ‘night czar’?
Plus: This spectacular abandoned coastguard station in Wales is on sale for £1.5million.
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