North Watford councillor Asif Khan claims his town is overrun by bookies and their ilk, but a saner, more nuanced perspective from the mayor’s office has served to reassure the business community – particularly the amusements, gaming and gambling sector which seems to be the only industry willing to invest millions and millions of pounds on the UK’s high streets at the moment.

Familiar-sounding alarm bells are being rung by local councillors in Hertfordshire, who have pointed to the number of betting shops in Watford as being indicative of the local people being put at risk of “gambling related harms.”

The town has a population of some 102,000 residents, and just18 betting shops: that’s one bookies for every 5,550 people. 

But that’s too many for North Watford councillor Asif Khan, who claims the local authority has spent over £2.5m in mitigation measures for problem gambling behaviour, and has called for cross party collaboration to target what he says is a “public heath issue.”

“I’m concerned about this issue and we need to keep a really close eye on the number of gambling establishments in Watford,” he told local newspaper the Watford Observer. “We also need to make sure help is available to those who want to break the cycle and fight this horrible addiction.”

Watford Mayor Peter Taylor has also weighed in on the subject, but interestingly has seemed to take a more business-friendly approach,and has avoided any discussion of formal limitations on the number of gaming and betting-related sites going forward.

“We must make sure that gambling companies pay their fair share of tax so that we can fund services that warn people about the dangers of gambling addiction and help those impacted by this,”he remarked. “I am so grateful for all the incredible support given by local charities in Watford, such as The Living Room and Watford Citizens’ Advice Bureau…they do so much to help people impacted by the devastating consequences of gambling.”