Margate Bong Shop owner Thule Letts says she is shocked that Thanet council has placed a closure notice on her shop for alleged antisocial behaviour and drug dealing.
The Bong Shop (and Joke Shop) has been running since the 1960s first at Arlington Arcade with Thule’s mum at the helm and then in the High Street since around 2011 following closure of the arcade site.
Thule says she had no warning of the closure and had only just got back from a holiday in Crete when she discovered Thanet council had taken the action and that there was a court hearing in Margate today (October 29).
She said: “A month ago Kent Police, Kent Trading Standards and Thanet council came to the shop and took away some products. They gave me a slip of paper, went away and I heard no more.
“I went on holiday to Crete and got a text message to say an order had been put on my shop front. I looked at my emails and saw one email from yesterday saying (the council) was putting a notice on my shop and shutting it down.
“I came back late last night and had to go to court this morning and they say they want to shut my shop for three months. They said drug dealing and repackaging weed but did not show me any evidence.”
Thule says the allegations relate to CBD products that were taken from her shop but adds that these are 0.2% THC – the compound in cannabis that causes a “high”- and so she says they are legal products.
There are other CBD suppliers in Kent and Thule says they are all registered through Companies House and paying VAT on their products.
She said: “These are not illegal, it is grey area but as long as they are 0.2% or less you can sell them but they have locked up my shop and accused me of drug dealing. They want to shut me for three months but if they do that I’ll have no income.
“It will also affect the community shop next door as I am their landlord.
“I’ve had no contact from Kent Police, there have been no charges and it is a legal product.”
A Freedom of Information response made by the Met Police says CBD is legal if it contains less than 1mg of THC, THCV and CBN in the final preparation. It adds that 0.2% is not a classification of a legal product but a guideline relating to which hemp varieties can be used by licensed commercial growers.
However, the Cannabidiol (CBD) flower, which can be smoked, vaped, or made into tea, is classified as a controlled substance and is illegal.
Facebook users have responded to the news with shock. One said: “Anti social? That is the most ridiculous accusation. This is one of the loveliest, friendliest shops in Thanet.”
Another commented: “Absolute wonderful people who actually go the extra mile in sticking to the law and associated guidelines.
“Never once have I ever witnessed anything or anyone associated with this small family run business that could be considered as being antisocial.”
The Thanet council closure notice cites ‘nuisance’ and ‘disorder’ and prohibits entry to anyone unless they live in or own the premises.
It outlines the closure order being sought would be for three months.
Thule says there is no disorder and incidents of trouble in the lower High Street, where the shop is based, are rare.
The case is due to return to Magistrates Court on November 6.
A statement from Thanet council says: “Thanet District Council enforced a 24-hour closure notice on the Bong Shop, 9 High Street, Margate on Tuesday 28 October 2025.
“The hearing, originally scheduled for Wednesday 29 October 2025, has been adjourned and will now take place at Medway Magistrates Court on Thursday 6 November 2025. The shop will remain closed until then.
“We are unable to comment further.”
Hmmm, I have never seen antisocial behaviour connected with this premises
I’m sure there are other places to get ‘gear’ from in margate .. no real loss
Iam not knowledgeable about that, more concerned with the way the Council has acted
Thule and her family are lovely people. Hope this comes to a happy conclusion.
Can remember the days when the most risqué things you could buy from their emporium were whoopee cushions, stink bombs, gobstoppers & Freddy Krueger masks.
Odd!
The real question is, who instigated statutory action and why? Who profits? One should always follow where the money leads….. Eh, T.D.C?
Why not just leave this long established business be? If you want something to do, why not shut all the Turkish and Albanian barbers shops that’s where the real drug deals money laundries.
That’s where it all going on, all over the country.The UK has got to get a grip on this one rule for one not the other.
i think Joe has got it right , these pop up barbers shops are the real culprits , and they seem to be left alone , everyone is frightened of them screaming racism nowadays
Exactly, what I mean.
Turkish have been doing it for decades with kebab shops, my old neighbour was always going in and out of business. He got a away with it as multiple takeaways on a high street are not that suspicious until there was a crack down, so then barber shops were next way of laundering.
The link just allows a person to start a petition of their own… got the correct link?
Yet TDC licensing continue to turn a blind eye to unlicensed kennels/dog borders which openly advertise/get tagged on New Thanet Chat and TALC.
I just looked this up so you dont have too.
2024 aprox 20,000 Turkish registerd barbers in the UK
2024 Aprox 15,500 Albain registed barbers in the UK
And apperntly alot of those barber shops are claiming income of 100-150k per month, thats why it called a landry, the taxman cant prove how much somebody paid for a haircut.
(But that lady on Margate and her Bong shop, which I would have no problem taking my Mother in there, Run her out of town, That will show them.)
They must be doing a lot of haircuts to make that. Just like Panay Fashions stayed in business for decades selling a couple of racks of clothes that 90 year olds thought were old-fashioned & you never saw anybody in there.
I apologizefor my spelling, but I’m dislolic.
Well actually, they might not have fully understood the law, but it’s important people know how it really works.
CBD itself isn’t illegal in the UK, but anything that contains THC, CBN or THCV is classed as a controlled substance under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. That means it’s illegal to sell or supply without a Home Office licence.
The 0.2% THC rule people often mention only applies to licensed hemp growers, not to retailers or shops.
Also, CBD flower or bud is legally treated as cannabis, regardless of how little THC it contains, so it can’t be sold or possessed.
If authorities find those types of products, they can issue a closure order on the premises and potentially follow up with criminal charges if tests confirm controlled substances.
It’s a confusing area, but worth clearing up, a lot of small businesses could fall foul of the law without realising it….
These council and police need to be fired you can buy the CBD that apparently is illegal right here https://professorherb.co.uk/?srsltid=AfmBOopJQCD5bpcRwRbMyI4Z9JvxOOhBisGAx-tdDEx-j_IHE-oboXqr there is no antisocial behaviour at the Bong Shop, maybe investigate all the bars and pubs or maybe actually the surplus store that at times has caused antisocial behaviour. everything Thule sells is perfectly legal, these morons need to do their job and maybe investigate the Turkish money laundering schemes that litter Thanet or the nail parlours that literally use slave labour. you are all jokes. none of you should be running a town.
Oh yeah, where did you look this up?
On Companies House, government website that shows all the registrations of Companies in the UK
As I said, never seen anti social behaviour there. Whereas outside some pubs……. Or do council want a different type of shop there? Coffee shop, barber lol
Given the endless carry on associated with the rise property in Edgar Road , how on earth did that escape the councils attention for so long? And on same basis how long will the new place ( when it eventually opens ) last in Grosvenor place ?
Be funny if it turns out to be a Turkish barbers.
Thanet Council. Anti business, anti worker. They’ll be more than happy to have the whole adult population either working in the public sector or wholly dependent on benefits.
Yeah Thanet Council man have a big fat one and chill man chill
I’m not sure she’s selling hippy hay, just the implements to burn it in. Nothing wrong with being a bong salesperson.
I use to go here all the time when I was able to get out I’ve never seen any antisocial behaviour nor have I ever seen any illegal business the family are awesome I hope you get compensated for being closed that’s Thanet district. Council for you leave all those doing wrong alone and closing down the good people
Thanet Council need to be getting on with cleaning the streets and picking up litter thats been neglected for years….thats the real crime here.Wish someone would close them down.
Fortunately, TDC will be closed down within the next couple of years.
And no doubt the replacement will be even more inept, nanny state, authoritarian, vindicative & corrupt than the various regimes over the decades gone by.
TDC will not be happy until they have completely destroyed Margate High Street.
Ridiculously high rents and business rates and on-street parking charges which have considerably reduced footfall has made it look like a ghost town compared to what it once was.
They’ll be closing McDonalds next. There’s far more antisocial behaviour takes place in and around there than the Bing Shop.
Bong Shop even 😅
I heard it is Kevin Phillips favourite shop.
Nice to know TDC & Kent Police are concentrating on that scourge to society CBD gummies, Hemp Wraps, Gloof Bars etc & leaving the Heroin & Cocaine supply chains alone. I am sure closing the Bong Shop will make a huge dent on the Thanet/Kent drugs trade.
Why am I not surprised?
With a council chamber full of inefectual bottom-feeding self-publicists hell-bent on virtue-signalling and a workforce of lazy, clock-watching jobsworths it’s really no wonder Thanet has become nothing better than an island-sized toilet.
Alex Peters- why do you make such absurd, exaggerated comments? Have you ever been a councillor? Why such endless vitriol, Mr/Ms Peters?
M.M. Rees-why do you never defend people, always preferring to whine about other people’s comments instead?
Well said Peter, M.M.Rees is always wingeing about what other people are saying, No Backbone.
Joe – People who make ridiculously exaggerated and often very unpleasant comments about Thanet towns/councils/ streets / inhabitants in general etc etc ad nauseam need to be criticized, not defended. Alex Peters is one of them.
What a council that has in all likelyhood ridiculously exaggerated and been very unpleasant to this long-running business? Or would you just rather see more barbers and “beauty” salons?
Can someone create a petition, put link here, and we will sign it
I’m so angry they’ve done this,I love this family,there my past, my children loved going in to the shop down by Arlington flats,hit doughnuts in shop next door,all the same family.im so sorry tdc have done this .there should be a protest done .makes me spit blood.everything gone to @#@#
Signed.