Two convenience stores in Stoke-on-Trent with a long history of selling illegal tobacco, cigarettes and vapes have been issued with closure notices by Trading Standards.
As reported by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Abbey Hulton Supermarket on Leek Road and Easy Shop on Weston Road in Meir in Staffordshire have history of supplying illegal products and have been subject to enforcement action multiple times.
Since 2021, Abbey Hulton Supermarket has had 17 test purchases of illegal cigarettes and vapes and five seizures, totaling £28,164 in retail value.
Easy Shop has had 42 interventions by Trading Standards since 2019 and in 2025 alone, illegal products worth £11,309 have been seized.
This work forms part of Operation Cece – a national operation with HMRC and National Trading Standards to tackle illegal tobacco.
Councillor Amjid Wazir OBE, cabinet member for city pride, enforcement and sustainability at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said, “We will not tolerate the sale of illegal tobacco and vapes, and I welcome these closures of two persistent offenders.
“Our Trading Standards teams work hard to remove illegal tobacco and vapes off the streets to keep everybody safe and make sure legal businesses are not being undermined.
“This work is part of the council’s commitment to creating a cleaner, greener and safer city for all and you will face serious consequences if you choose to sell illegal products.”
Meanwhile in Sheffield, Jordanthorpe Food & Wine, located on Dyche Lane has had its licence revoked after about 1,000 illegal vapes were confiscated from its premises.
The store was initially visited by Trading Standards in 2023 over reports of vapes being sold to under-18s.
After 1,176 illegal vapes were seized across multiple site visits, the shop was referred to the city council's licensing committee on grounds of preventing crime and protecting children from harm.
The solicitor representing the shop's owner said he was sorry, and had been "naïve" to not realise the vapes, which had been sourced from wholesalers, were illegal.
A Trading Standards report stated the seized vapes were not permitted for sale in the UK and were therefore "suspected to have been smuggled or illegally imported".
"[They] should not be stocked in wholesale or retail premises for supply," it added.
In February 2023, 468 illegal vapes were seized from the shop, followed by 466 more exactly one year later, and a further 242 confiscated in December 2024.
A mystery shopper for Trading Standards was able to buy a vape for £10 in January, which the authority said showed the shop "had not listened to previous repeated requests to stop selling illegal vapes".
Its most recent visit on May 8 found more illegal vapes and more than a dozen packets of illegal hand-rolled tobacco, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
