Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Number of Hawker Centres and Food Retail Establishments with Smoking Corners

Question:

Mr Ng Shi Xuan. To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) whether the Ministry can provide an update on the number of hawker centres and food retail establishments with smoking corners; and (b) whether the Ministry will take more proactive action to eliminate such corners, including requiring the removal of such corners as a condition of renewal of the licences of the food retail establishments.

Answer:

The National Environment Agency (NEA) has stopped accepting applications for new smoking corners in retail food establishments since June 2017. Existing smoking corners will be phased out when the licences of the establishments are terminated or cancelled. For existing hawker centres, NEA has been engaging local stakeholders, such as the Hawkers' Associations and Town Councils, on the progressive removal of smoking corners when opportune, such as during repairs and redecoration works.

In June 2017, there were about 1,000 smoking corners across hawker centres and retail food establishments. This decreased to about 600 when we last updated Parliament on this issue in October 2022. As of December 2025, the number of hawker centres and retail food establishments with smoking corners has further reduced to about 10 and 270 respectively. There are no current plans to require their removal as a condition for licence renewal.