Smoking in bars/restaurants-should it be allowed?

[Bluwise]

quote:Originally posted by Scunner

One problem is that the owners can see the business they get from letting smokers smoke, but never see the business they have lost because they let smokers smoke.

Do I detect a little irony here?

[Scunner]

No

[Bluwise]

One problem is that the owners can see the business they get from stopping smokers smoking, but never see the business they have lost because they don't let smokers smoke.

[Scunner]

My point was that smokers don't stop going to bars because they can't smoke in them, but people who don't smoke do stop going if they allow people to carry on smoking in them. Bar owners tend to see the people who are in the bar (smoking or otherwise) but they don't give a moment's thought to those who aren't there but might have been if things were different. It's not a point about smokers or non-smokers, it's a point about the inability of some to see anything more than what is directly in front of them.

[Bluwise]

But it does cut both ways Scunner - many people don't go to bars now because they can't have a cig with their drink / after dinner - it's had a huge impact on the pub trade here.
But yes, I see your point now about some owners not being aware of what drives their business whichever way the wind blows....... preferably not toward Stoop if they have a fag on!!

[Scunner]

I'm not anti-smokers at all, I was one until coming up about three years ago and I have no problem with people smoking around me. I remember sitting down in Finans bank and first thing was always being offered a fag and lighting up, so things have had to move a long way over there. I also remember the rule of cigarette smoke - it leaves the cigarette in exactly the direction of the non-smoker - and I understand why non-smokers prefer the smoke free bars since the bans here and in Turkey (although I probably don't, the air is far too clean & clinical these days   ). It quite obviously has hit the pub trade here, along with cheap supermarket booze - for the price of 2 pints in my local I could buy 15 bottles of the same beer in Tesco. As I said pages ago, I think if non-smokers felt that strongly as a whole then their beer money was hugely significant enough for bar owners and breweries to see the opportunity and bring in their own smoke free pubs to cash in - this didn't happen and therefore there was no tangible demand from the majority of pub goers (the non-smokers).

All that said, it is still a lot easier for smokers to nip outside in Turkey (for much of the year they probably are outside anyway) compared to here where people nip outside for a fag and end up encased in ice. The idea that smokers who tell us they so kindly go outside when they want a fag but think kids should be banned from bars is ridiculous - one is banned and one isn't. There are no brownie points for obeying the law.

[mercury]

I can remember years ago when we had a business in Blackpool and when it was still a thriving town that there was a club on Central Drive that started allowing children in on a Saturday night. It went from being a place where people queued up to get in to watch good cabaret and have a good time to a place that was nearly empty due to kids running riot in the place. On one of our infrequent visits there we were sitting by a family who proceeded to change her babies s"""""y nappy on the table in front of us. Needless to say our last visit.

[Bluwise]

Ah well, this debate will also be a thing of the past soon when the new law kicks in and supermarkets have to hide their cigs and tobacco stock from view.  Of course this will be so effective and means all smokers will immediately give up and anti-smokers / youngsters can then mix freely with the once lower classes.

[Janice1971]

As a smoker, i completely understand that we should be outside smoking, i wouldnt dream of smoking at home, i have had periods of time when i have given up and i wouldnt have wanted a smoker sat next to me in a restaurant.  Smoking outside is something that you just get used to, no big deal, plus in Turkey its easier and warmer to stand outside.  I wouldnt take my kids into a bar that was full of smokers, when we lived in Turkey it was far more acceptable to take your kids everywhere that you go, although i never stood propping up a bar drunk with my daughter in tow!

[stoop]

quote:Originally posted by Bluwise

I read your line "not blowing smoke over those eating close by" as suggesting it was being blown towards someone eating which suggests deliberate to me rather than accidentally coming your way in the breeze.  I do agree consideration should be given in trying to avoid that happening - I would avoid a restaurant with tables close together for that reason.

I guess if someone had the good manners to ask if you mind if they smoke then it would only be polite to say "not at all, please go ahead"  

It totally depends when they ask really. If I was right in the middle of my meal I would ask them if they would mind going elsewhere but if I was getting towards the end of my meal then I wouldn't have a problem really.

It also depends how big they are

As for 'blowing smoke over those close by' well unforatunatley the human body doesn't allow us to suck all the time - we have to blow out occasionally So my guess is that someone next to them will receive the second hand smoke.