Preston has more vape shops than anywhere else in Lancashire and vapers could soon be paying more
The removal of business rate relief comes just a month after a new tax on vaping liquid came into force
Preston has 40 vape shops which will lose their business rates relief after they were singled out by Chancellor John Healey in Wednesday’s budget.
The city has more vape shops than any other centre in Lancashire which has more than 187 e-cig outlets.
The removal of business rate relief comes just a month after a new tax on vaping liquid came into force.
Mr Healey told the House of Commons: “I will carve out adult gaming centres and vape shops from business rate reliefs.”
He said it would mean half of England's shops, restaurants and gyms pay no business rates at all.
Adult gaming centres lose the relief too, and Lancashire has 45 licensed adult gaming centres, according to the Gambling Commission's premises register.
Preston has the most vape shops in Lancashire, followed by Blackburn with Darwen with 33 and Hyndburn with 21.
It comes on top of the new Vaping Products Duty, which started on October 1, at £2.20 for every 10ml of vaping liquid.
The Government says it is a commercial decision whether that cost is passed on to customers.
Shane Margereson, founder of Ecigone , a UK online vape shop, said: “Vapers have already seen prices go up since the new duty started on October 1, and losing rates relief adds another cost for high street vape shops on top of that.
“Most of these are small local businesses helping adults move away from cigarettes, so the worry is that higher costs for legal shops make illegal vapes look cheaper by comparison.”
More than a million children are estimated to have tried vaping, with more than 370,000 vaping regularly.
Young people in Lancashire are more likely to vape than the North West average, according to figures from Lancashire County Council, with 46 per cent of young people claiming to vape regularly (compared to 41 per cent in the North West overall).
Meanwhile, Preston alone is said to have had one of the biggest surges in vape shops over the past decade - jumping by 11 times.