Opinion : Is Wycombe becoming the ‘vaping’ capital of Buckinghamshire?

My good self can still remember the days when Wycombe was a quiet market town.

Residents would go to the town centre on market days to purchase everyday items while pensioners would queue up in the post office to collect their weekly pension payouts.

Of course back then the High Street was the place to be. Indeed it was full of shops including butchers, green grocers, gents outfitters, newsagents and the like. In Desborough Road a friendly shop keeper could often be seen standing in the doorway of their shop to welcome customers in.

Then, sometime in the past twenty years, the town changed. The town centre was taken over by charity shops, book makers and fast food outlets.

Gone are the pensioners collecting their state pension, instead they have been replaced by gambling addicts queuing up to place bets on horses in the next race. While in the Desborough Road area the sight of a friendly shop keeper standing in the door way has been replaced by what appears to be roughly dressed men standing in doorways acting as ‘look outs’ to give a warning to those inside the premises in case a police officer happens to pass by.

Now it seems the town is going through another transition.

Have you noticed the number of retail premises that have appeared in the town recently associated with the craze of ‘vaping’?

In the last week my good self has noticed two new ‘vape shops‘ that have opened in Wycombe town centre as well as what appears to be a ‘vape lounge’.

In the past Wycombe has had a big problem with anti-social drinking problems in the town centre, now I fear that anti-social ‘vaping’ is going to be another problem.

Only the other day yours truly was just about to walk into the new multi-million pound shopping centre to make a purchase when a ‘vaper’ crouched down beside the door emitted a large could of ‘vape smoke’ which they had inhaled from their electronic cigarette.

Naturally I did not want to be covered in the ‘vape’ so I turned around and walked in the opposite direction to spend my money elsewhere.

In my opinion there needs to be a clampdown on the anti-social ‘vapers’ of Wycombe perhaps with a new Public Spaced Protection Order to stop ‘vaping in public places’?

Why are all these ‘vaping’ related shops being allowed to start up? Is there no ability to use the planning rules and regulations to ensure that Wycombe has a wide range of shops in town rather than filling the town with dens of iniquity?

There may be a lot of empty shops in the town but surely the town needs to develop a sustainable and decent base of retail outlet rather than rushing to fill empty shops at any cost.

As far as I’m concerned ‘vaping’ is one of the temptations of Lucifer alongside alcohol, gambling and illicit drugs. Further more ‘vape smoke’ is no more than a cloud of ‘Lucifer gas’ that envelops the decent citizens who pass by and corrupts them.

The sooner our town is rid of the ‘vaping’ craze and all its trapping the better.

What do you think?

My blogs are published every Tuesday and Friday evening around 8.00pm here on the WycombeToday.com website.

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