The owner of an illegal shisha lounge was ordered to pay more than £6,000 after ignoring an official warning to stop people smoking on the premises.

Mohamed Belmejdoub put up an enclosed canopy behind Vogue Lounge in High Street, Wealdstone, without planning permission and served shisha and tobacco.

During a visit in January, inspectors found customers smoking shisha in the canopy, which had no opening for fresh air to get in and so not compliant with The Health Act 2006.

This meant that not only was it harmful to health and wellbeing of customers and staff, it also exposed the public to second hand-smoke.

A promotional video also confirmed that the premises was being used for smoking shisha and other tobacco products – despite doing so in such an enclosed space being prohibited.

Harrow Council issued a warning letter to stop serving shisha and allowing customers to smoke, but the business continued to operate illegally.

A warning letter was issued to stop serving shisha and allowing customers to smoke - but the business continued to operate illegally and the council said it had no option but to take the matter to court.  

At Willesden Magistrates’ Court on April 13, owner Mohamed Belmejdoub was found guilty in his absence of failing to stop a person smoking on the premises wher he was a manager.

He was fined £2500, and ordered to pay costs of £2,868.90 and a victim services surcharge of £1,000 - a total of £6,368.90.

Cllr Anjana Patel, cabinet member for environment and community safety, said: “Belmejdoub ignored our warnings to stop serving shisha and tobacco and continued to put the public in danger of second-hand smoke. Thankfully the law caught up with him.  

“It’s the job of our Environmental Health officers to ensure business owners are complying with the law and carrying out their duty of care to keep the public safe from harm.   

“We are committed to keeping Harrow safe and putting our residents first - and we’ll continue to work with businesses to raise the standards and take action against the minority flouting the rules.”