WINCHESTER civic chiefs are angry that another shop selling ‘legal highs’ has opened in the city.

The Chronicle revealed the shop which opened last month, was selling the drugs and ball bearing guns on Stockbridge Road on a route popular with school pupils and students.

Cllr Helen Osborne said she was worried about the large number of children and teenagers who pass the shop, including those aged 16-18 on their way to Peter Symonds College.

Ernie Jeffs, portfolio holder for communities and transport, said the city council was working with Trading Standards and the police.

He said: “I deplore the attitude of the guy interviewed in the Hampshire Chronicle. He doesn’t seem to care about this at all. All he wants to do is make a fast buck. Something has to be done and the city council is having a go very actively at it.”

Cllr Martin Tod asked that the council write to the landlord to alert him to the new use of the shop that was formerly Nibble.

Former mayor Chris Pines pointed out that when a trader in the Antiques Market sold legal highs last year she was stopped because the council was the landlord.

He added: “The idea of impressionable youngsters seeing that sort of thing is an absolute nightmare and just asking for trouble. It is something we ought to be taking up in educational terms as well.”

The council is restricted on what it could do, Cllr Jeffs told the meeting.

Legal highs cannot be advertised for sale for human consumption and Trading Standards can take action if they are.

Mostly the drugs are packaged as incense, salts or plant food.

The city council could apply for a Public Space Protection Notice or a Community Protection Notice but only if it can prove the shop is directly causing the problem.