Manchester City Council has successfully prosecuted the owner of a Chorlton shisha bar, after he and customers were found smoking shisha on the premises.

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Illegal smoking at Mazzika Shisha Bar, Manchester Road, Chorlton was first revealed in October 2011, when council officers arrived to undertake an electrical safety visit.

Owner Mohamad Algazi was issued with a warning, but a repeat visit in November revealed that customers were still being permitted to smoke inside the bar.

Algazi was interviewed under caution in December 2011, but when officers next visited the business in January 2012, he was found smoking a shisha pipe inside.

Algazi did not attend Manchester Magistrates Court on Wednesday 23 May and two counts of permitting smoking in a smokefree place were proved in his absence. He was fined £1,200, plus £861.16 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Assistant executive member for the environment, Councillor David Royle, said: “We will continue to crack down on these offences whenever they are uncovered.

“The simple fact is that smoking inside enclosed public spaces of this kind is illegal. Algazi ignored repeated warnings to comply with the law, leaving us with no choice but to prosecute him.”

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