A shisha cafe was found to break tobacco advertising rules by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), following a complaint by advocacy group 'It’s Still Tobacco'.

In April 2018, the group reported an advert appearing on the Beirut cafe's website entitled “THE BEST SHISHA IN LONDON”, containing images of people smoking shisha and pricing for different flavours.

Text on the webpage stated, “Beirut Nights in Park Royal offers the best Shisha in London...finish your meal with a relaxing smoke of high quality flavoured tobacco in a relaxed, ambient environment. We offer the following range of Shisha flavours”

It’s Still Tobacco argued that the page was promoting tobacco products.

In response to the submission of the complaint, Beirut Nights replied that the webpage promoted their business rather than tobacco products.

However the ASA upheld the original complaint.

They noted that under the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 (TAPA), “advertisements where the purpose, or one of the purposes, or effect of which was to promote a tobacco product were prohibited, subject to certain exceptions as set out in TAPA and related regulations”.

They concluded that the website “promoted shisha as an attraction of visiting their restaurant”, and as such was prohibited under TAPA.

The ASA ruled that the advert must not appear again in its current form.

The ASA also advised that future adverts must not feature shisha menus or promotional images of customers smoking shisha.

The webpage no longer appears on the Beirut Nights website.

Mr Zaid Alkateb, Chair of It’s Still Tobacco said, “This ruling on shisha sets a precedent for the many hundreds of examples of websites out there which do not comply with UK tobacco advertising laws. We urge the ASA to be proactive in their post-ruling approach to enforcing these laws”