{"id":610515,"date":"2025-12-03T23:47:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T23:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/610515\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T23:47:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T23:47:25","slug":"three-shops-shut-down-in-greater-manchester-town-for-selling-illegal-goods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/610515\/","title":{"rendered":"Three shops shut down in Greater Manchester town for selling illegal goods"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There has been six shops shut down over six months in the town<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_World-of-Shisha-Drake-Street-Rochdale-with-closure-notice-on.jpg\" alt=\"World of Shisha, Drake Street, Rochdale with closure notice on\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>World of Shisha, Drake Street, Rochdale with closure notice on(Image: Rochdale council)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">Six shops have been shut down in as many months over illegal trading in <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/rochdale\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Rochdale<\/a>. Last week three stores were closed by the courts for dealing illicit goods, according to <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/rochdale-council\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Rochdale council<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">World of Shisha in Rochdale, Green Shop and Darnhill Discount Store, both in <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/heywood\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Heywood<\/a>, received closure orders following a court hearing on Tuesday, November 25. The council\u2019s application was supported by its housing standards service, counter fraud team, community safety service, and <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/greater-manchester-police\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Greater Manchester Police<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">The shops had been operating as \u2018fronts\u2019 for the illegal trade of harmful goods. The court heard how all three had repeatedly sold illegal tobacco, despite written warnings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">World of Shisha had opened within three days of another shop on Drake Street, Lezan, being closed down by the trading standards service in October. The same individuals behind Lezan supplied World of Shisha with illegal tobacco from nearby cars and a block of flats, Manchester and <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/salford\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Salford<\/a> Magistrates\u2019 Court was told.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_Suspicious-shelves-in-World-of-Shisha-in-Rochdale.jpg\" alt=\"Suspicious shelves in World of Shisha in Rochdale\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Suspicious shelves in World of Shisha in Rochdale(Image: Rochdale council)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">The local authority explained how the store front aroused suspicion with mostly empty shelves, stocking expired Pot Noodles. Its closure is part of Operation Tetbury, a partnership between Rochdale Borough Council and Greater Manchester Police, to improve community safety in Rochdale Town Centre.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">Darnhill Discount Store, was also found on two occasions to be trading counterfeit \u2018Labubu\u2019 dolls while also attracting anti-social behaviour in the area, says the councils.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">At Green Shop in Heywood, officers found illegal vapes at the premises including inside a car connected to the business, the court heard. An illegal worker employed by the business was also arrested by immigration enforcement following a joint visit with the trading standards team, the council explained.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_Boot-with-illicit-tobacco-seized-by-trading-standards-in-Rochdale.jpg\" alt=\"Boot with illicit tobacco seized by trading standards in Rochdale\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Boot with illicit tobacco seized by trading standards in Rochdale(Image: Rochdale council)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">These closures follow the shutdown of Lezan Food Ltd and Hayati Convenience Store Ltd on Drake Street in October for trading in illicit tobacco.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">Coun Trica Ayrton, the council\u2019s deputy leader and cabinet member for climate change and environment, said: \u201cThe council\u2019s trading standards team is continuing to prove that they can work quickly and effectively to clampdown on illegal trading of harmful goods.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">\u201cBut it doesn\u2019t stop there \u2013 they are also being proactive in targeting the landlords who let these activities take place on their own doorsteps.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"men\">\u201cWe are already compiling evidence for other shops in our sights. This should act as a clear warning to anyone who thinks they can act above the law on our high streets: our team will find you and action will be delivered swiftly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There has been six shops shut down over six months in the townWorld of Shisha, Drake Street, Rochdale&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,188,393,4884,2465,285,1170,1171,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-610515","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-rochdale","15":"tag-rochdale-council","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115658311819010116","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}