Two adjacent streets and 54 vape shops: How this eerily quiet suburb in Manchester became the vape capital of Europe, why locals are fed up of 'dodgy' users... and the very alarming hidden role of China

Published: 01:00, 1 August 2026 | Updated: 01:00, 1 August 2026 The billboards extend as far as the eye can see, each one a garish blend of bright colours and bold font slogans. ‘Big Puffs, Big Savings,’ reads one. ‘40 Flavours of Nicotine Salts,’ claims another. ‘Premium Nic Salt. Stronger, Smoother. Faster Absorption And More Puffs!’ It doesn’t take long to work out why this eerily quiet suburb in north Manchester has been dubbed the ‘vape capital of Britain’. For across just two streets of Cheetham Hill, there are no fewer than 54 vape businesses selling wholesale products to corner shops and high street retailers as far away as Glasgow, Birmingham and even the South West. Pop into Dreamchasers, Xhale or Blue Horse and a whole world of electronically administered nicotine opens up. There is, quite literally, everything vape-related on sale here, from pre-filled ‘pod vapes’ to enormous refillable devices, chargers, mouthpieces and, of course, thousands of flavours of synthetic e-juice including Cherry Ice, Watermelon, Fresh Mint and Blue Razz Lemonade. Thirty of the businesses are on the 130 metre-long Harris Street. On the adjoining Overbridge Road are a further 24 vape stores along a 300-metre stretch. The question is: why? The answer, the Daily Mail can reveal, lies in the law of unintended consequences, after Greater Manchester Police’s hugely successful four-year programme to rid Cheetham Hill of heinous criminal gangs. The story of this area’s transformation begins in autumn 2022 when GMP, under the leadership of celebrated, no-nonsense chieftain Sir Stephen Watson, launched Operation Vulcan – a multi-agency approach to tackling crime across the city. One of the main areas of focus was Cheetham Hill, which had previously been dubbed the ‘counterfeit goods capital of Britain’ and was thought to be linked to about 50 per cent of the UK’s £8.6billion annual trade in fake products. Thirty vape shops are on the 130 metre-long Harris Street; many are next to each other, like Vape Universe and Vaping Supplier (R) Across just two streets of Cheetham Hill, there are no fewer than 54 vape businesses; pictured, Vape & Phone Co on Harris Street Several of the shops have brightly coloured billboards - U-Vape in Harris Street boasts that one of its products has four flavours in one The area had also been a hive of even more serious organised crime with gangs manufacturing and selling drugs as well as trading firearms and fake prescription medication in some of the counterfeit stores. At the same time, Cheetham Hill had become a notorious site for prostitution and was considered the city’s ‘red light district’. Alarmingly, a number of sex workers in the area turned out to be victims of modern slavery and human trafficking, especially from eastern Europe. GMP got to work and, by 2024, had shuttered an astonishing 216 counterfeit stores in Cheetham Hill alone, which had been selling everything from knock-off tech to fake shoes, sunglasses and counterfeit cigarettes. The force arrested 238 people, seized more than £500,000 in cash along with over 1,000 tonnes of goods, class C drugs worth £2.4million and 400,000 illicit vapes. ‘By decimating the counterfeit trade and systematically shutting down every shop, warehouse and storage unit involved, we’ve seen a reduction in violent crime, vehicle crime and theft from person,’ declared Det Supt Neil Blackwood. ‘Drug dealing is no longer blatant and the community report that they feel safer.’ There is no doubt that Cheetham Hill is safer than it was. GMP reports a 50 per cent fall in violent crime and public order offences alone. However, the shuttering of so many cheap, counterfeit shops has also – tellingly – led to a 30 per cent dip in customer footfall. Had GMP, Manchester City Council or perhaps then-mayor Andy Burnham considered what might happen after the crackdown? Did anyone have a plan for the day after tomorrow? The city council claims that Operation Vulcan ‘has tackled criminality and counterfeit goods, readying the neighbourhood for long-term investment’. The story of this area’s transformation begins in autumn 2022 when GMP, under the leadership of celebrated, no-nonsense chieftain Sir Stephen Watson, launched Operation Vulcan – a multi-agency approach to tackling crime across the city At the end of last year, the council claimed that ‘£100,000 has already been spent on improving public space on the high street’ in Cheetham Hill – a negligible amount of funding, say critics, for widespread urban renewal and regeneration – and that ‘in the next 12 months further investment opportunities will be reviewed’. There are a few success stories, including a large building where ten counterfeit stores were reconfigured into a dance school. But this is the exception rather than the rule. ‘Before, our takeaway shop was very busy,’ said Maiwand Safi who has worked at the Mughul Grill And Coffee in Cheetham Hill since 2012.  ‘But now, we are a little bit quiet. Now it’s all mobile shops and vape shops.’ Grocery store owner Surbir Arora echoed this. ‘The police closed everything. After that, you can see, all the shops are shut down now.  'It is not very good. I am looking for another place, because this place is dead.’ Harris Street and Overbridge Road epitomise the trend Surbir describes. Just north of the River Irwell and a stone’s throw from HMP Manchester, formerly known as Strangeways, the streets here are now akin to backwater alleyways – quiet and strewn with rubbish and cracked Tarmac. And now, with 54 vape wholesalers filling the void, is this really what the good people of Manchester thought would happen after the criminals were hounded out? ‘People come from all over the North to buy here. From Bradford, Liverpool and all sorts,’ explained 48-year-old Kamran Akhtar, manager at The Vape Boyz on Harris Street. Kamran Akhtar, who manages The Vape Boyz on Harris Street, says people come from as far away as Glasgow to buy vapes in Manchester 'Cheetham Hill is the biggest vape market in Europe, never mind Britain,' says Kamran ‘They even come from Glasgow and Edinburgh. There is a similar vape market like this in Southall in London but this is bigger. In fact, Cheetham Hill is the biggest vape market in Europe, never mind Britain.’  Indeed, this week, the Daily Mail watched as a steady stream of white vans filled up with crates of vapes, e-cigarette ‘juice’ and the associated paraphernalia destined for cities across the country. The nation’s vaping market is thought to be worth around £2.5billion, with more than five million Brits hooked on the habit.  ‘At least once a week you will get someone wandering off the street just wanting to buy one vape or something,’ Kamran told the Daily Mail. ‘But it’s just not worth it to break a whole box for one person. We sell in bulk. It is pretty crazy how many vape businesses there are here but it all seems to work.’  He concluded: ‘The area is a lot safer as the crime gangs and drugs have gone,’ revealing his relief at the work of Greater Manchester Police. ‘Some locals don’t like all the people coming here to buy vapes but there’s never any problems here now.’ Isa Cheema, 21, who works in Astro vape shop which his father owns, agreed. ‘There used to be drug dealers here so it wasn’t that safe. There were spotters and people were armed with knives. It’s a lot safer now. But it’s definitely pretty mad how many vape shops there are here,’ he said. ‘We occasionally sell to people off the street but most of the time it’s wholesale.’ Intriguingly, Isa revealed that there is a significant Chinese influence on the ground here in Cheetham Hill. A 2024 Government report estimates that up to 80 per cent of the world’s vapes are produced in China, particularly Shenzhen, with around 90 per cent of vapes sold in the UK coming from the country. This is despite a ban on fruit-flavoured e-cigarettes in China, which clearly views these addictive plastic menaces as safe to export but not to consume. ‘We get, sort of, “ambassadors” from China visiting and they want to sell us their products,’ said Isa. Distributor Ricky Lamba, 36, who operates a shop on Harris Street, corroborated this claim. ‘All these shops sell different sorts of vapes,’ he explained. ‘They all have their own speciality – that is why they are so many of them. And it’s virtually rent free, as Chinese vape companies pay for adverts on the sides of shops, lowering the cost. So there’s never an empty shop here.’ Another retailer told the Daily Mail that Chinese manufacturers will pay as much as £3,000 a year for a large billboard advertising their wares to the thousands of retailers who come here to collect their sickly merchandise. Concerns about Britain’s addiction to these Chinese products were raised further last month when Graeme Downie, chairman of the cross-party campaign group, the Coalition On Secure Technology, warned that a new generation of ‘smart vapes’ with internet connectivity, produced in China, could potentially be used to hack into mobile phones, laptops and other tech. ‘The vape in someone’s pocket really could be used to quietly harvest data or track their movements,’ explained Downie. ‘Millions of these smart vapes are manufactured in China where the state has sweeping powers over industry, raising serious questions about where data could end up and who can access it.’ Malign Chinese influence aside, many locals are frustrated by the proliferation of vape businesses. ‘It’s better than it was but you still get lots of dodgy people turning up in vans,’ explained 33-year-old mother-of-one Sue Bolton. ‘We need other shops here, not just vape ones.’ Sue’s sentiments have been echoed by former communities minister Steve Reed, who described the number of vape shops in Manchester as ‘absolutely bizarre’. He added: ‘That is not going to bring people to the high street. You need a diversity of shops.’ John Leech, Liberal Democrat leader of the opposition on Manchester City Council, accused the Labour Government of failing ‘to recognise the planning processes which are needed to protect shops on the high street’. ‘They’ve chosen to relax planning rules so authorities do not have the strength to reject the proliferation of vape shops,’ he continued. ‘A shop that might have been a greengrocer in the past might have been replaced by a similar one. But now it can be replaced by anything.’ ‘It’s madness that so many are allowed here,’ stressed 43-year-old taxi driver Ellis Hughes. ‘They are not needed. It is a lot safer but I still think some of the businesses are a bit dodgy.’ While there is, of course, no evidence that any of the 54 vape shops in this small corner of Cheetham Hill are involved in any illegal activity, other stores continue to be a problem for Greater Manchester Police, despite the success of Operation Vulcan. Just last month, a vape shop in Middleton, outside Oldham, was given a three-month closure order for selling illegal vapes and tobacco. In the past year, six such suspension orders have been issued to shops around Oldham – perhaps no surprise after the Government tightened the law, restricting the sale of hugely popular single-use vapes. ‘I understand that you can’t let the criminals run riot and they were,’ explained Tariq, in his late 40s, who walks down Overbridge Road to work most mornings. ‘It’s good they’ve stopped that. But look around – fifty-odd vape shops! ‘Look at all these billboards and ask yourself: would a healthy city have streets like these?’