Residents of a trendy city centre have been left incensed by a vape shop which looks like a ‘space ship’.
Locals living near Manchester’s Northern Quarter say the MCR-1 store’s ‘ugly neon signs’ are not in keeping with the area’s style.
They noticed the vape shop – which features illuminous yellow branding on top of a matching honeycomb design – pop up last week after the closure of The Milano Barbershop.
But residents are already complaining to the council about the store, which they say has completely changed one of Manchester’s most popular regions.
Fiona Moinuddin, 55, said: ‘I have this great belief that you look after your own street scene and neck of the woods. I’m not against the shop being there as in fact its location is useful, but it just doesn’t keep with the area.
‘Manchester’s Northern Quarter is a cool place and it has built itself up over the years. But once you get one shop that decides to have the glaring lights pop and the whole street scene changes before you know it.’
One local, however, simply demanded that the store be closed down. ‘Remove it, simple. It doesn’t fit in,’ they said.
Locals living near Manchester’s Northern Quarter say the MCR-1 store’s ‘ugly neon signs’ are not in keeping with the area’s style
The vape shop – which features illuminous yellow branding on top of a matching honeycomb design – popped up last week after the closure of a barbershop
Fiona Moinuddin (pictured), 55, said the new shop has changed the area’s ‘entire street scene’
Another complained: ‘It literally looks like a space ship has landed.’
While one more remarked: ‘They’re everywhere now. Ugly neon signs for vape shops and barbers. It’s about time our councils cracked down on them.’
Despite the opening of MCR-1, its owners are yet to submit a planning application, according to Manchester City Council planning portal.
Planning consent is necessary to display advertisement bigger than 0.3 square metres, according to PlanningPortal, or if any part of the design is illuminated.
Residents claim that an enforcement officer from the council has already visited the premises.
A spokesperson for Manchester City Council said: ‘The Council is aware of complaints that have been made in relation to this premises in the Stevenson Square Conservation Area, and investigations are under way to establish if any regulations have been breached in relation to the illuminated signage and display of advertisements.
‘However, as this is an active and ongoing investigation the Council cannot go into further detail at this stage.’
The owner of the vape shop has been approached for a comment.
Around 5.6million adults vaped in the United Kingdom last year, equating roughly 11 per cent of the adult population, with the industry now worth around £3billion to the economy.
The popularity of cigarette smoking has fallen considerably in the last decade due to the harmful effects of tobacco, with e-cigarettes acting as substitute.
There are now more over-16s using vapes than smoking traditional cigarettes, according to statistics produced by the Office for National Statistics in November 2025.
Smoking is responsible for approximately 70,000 deaths in Britain every single year and is the leading cause of preventable death in the UK.