Have Shisha Cafés gone to Ashes? By Saf

The famous Shisha cafes along Edgware road are now under threat of being closed down. Many other Shisha cafes have already closed down across the country. This is due to the ban that doesn’t allow smoking in enclosed public places.
With only a metre or two of pavement available on Edgware road, café owners have to battle it out with other owners for space. But two metres is hardly enough for all those people who want a puff. With a maximum amount of ten Shishas being used outside, dozens are left inside, unused.

"Come winter time, no-one will want to be outside in the cold," says fitness consultant and shisha smoker Paul Carter.

Ayad Albelbese, owner of the Ali Baba shisha café, says that local university students have called his café their “second home” during term time.
His café (which only sold Shishas and drinks) closed down the morning the ban kicked in.

"Ninety five percent of my business was relying on Shisha. Since the ban I have been without an income, I have a wife and a child to support, I have a mortgage...how will I pay my rent?" protests Ayad.
Many other owners are experiencing Ayad’s problems.

Besides the money issues, there are also cultural issues.
Muslims, who want to chill out with their non-Muslim friends, are now having difficulties finding a place where they can all “jam”. They used to go the Shisha cafes, but as winter approaches they are thinking twice about sitting in the cold.
18 year old student, Mohammed, states “People go to a casino to gamble, if you don’t want to gamble don’t go to a casino. It’s that same thing with a Shisha café. People who don’t want to breathe in the smoke, then why go to a Shisha café?”

Shisha cafes have increased over the last 10 years. But now the ban threatens the number to drop dramatically, and the livelihood of many people.
The Shisha attracts all sorts of people, from young students to Muslim women wearing the full veil. All these people will have a limited choice of where to go when they are bored.

On the other hand, some people think that the smoking ban is right, and that smoking in public places should be banned. No-one has fully investigated the effect of Shisha on our health, and so this has lead to big disagreements on the subject. Some people are saying that Shisha is not as bad as a cigarette; this is because of the amount of tobacco used. Mean while doctors and Muslim sheikhs are saying that it harms our health and some even say that it is more harmful than a cigarette.
What do you think?
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