Smoking bans in public places - how are they doing?

I dunno about the NY etc bans, but certainly, I feel there need to be some clearly designated SMOKING pubs - I'm on the cusp of giving up, but it's really hard to have a beer and not smoke.

Smoke-free gigs are alien as well, but at least you don't get some selfish twonk stubbing a fag out on your arm by mistake...

__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

"weather smoking"? As in clouds of smoke?

I went into my local pub at the beginning of the week and it was so smoke filled it was hard to see across the room. My throat was closing up even before I got a drink.
Maybe smokers gravitate to particular pubs where they all feel in similar company. I won't be going there myself though, cos my clothes just stank after. It was really disgusting.

I would have thought the best solution would be to have extractor fans in places where people can smoke. Unless the real reason for banning smoking in such places is to encourage people to give up the habit.

(I've never smoked)

Steve B

Smoking should be banned inside all public places.

Simple as that.

Don't give a toss how hard it is for smokers.

quote:

---

Originally posted by seagull:
"weather smoking"? As in clouds of smoke?

---

I think you'll find I've cunningly edited my post.....


No one from places it has been banned?

Regards

Stephen

I have to agree with Count D's militant line. If smoking was just a matter of an unpleasant smell then Fans etc would be OK, but as it adversely affects everyone's health smokers should be segregated at all times. I have certainly been much less tolerant of smokers in restaurants/cafes etc now when I have my 4 month old son with me.

Extractors just don't work. Spike Milligan suggested bottles over smokers heads sucking out fumes.



Stephen

It's interesting to note that when non smokers were in the minority they were given rights as nonsmokers with special areas on public transport, cinemas, theatres, restaurants etc. Now they are in the majority they reveal no consideration for the rights of the minority who do smoke.

I also believe that the pub trade will be the ones most affected by a total ban, as I have a number of friends and aquaintences who only smoke the occasional cigarette or cigar when in the pub. From conversations I've had with them they make think twice about going to the pub if the ban is put in place.

Yours in Music

Syd

Even though I'm non-smoker, I have no real objection to smoking in public places. However, I would like to see long-term prison sentences for people who smoother themselves in noxious perfumes, particularly in restaurants. The modern ones, with excessive oriental notes, send me into a screaming migraine, and I know others have asthma attacks. Never mind the poncy bottles, they should carry a health warning.

Here's an idea, and excuse me whilst I run riot with it - you may agree or disagree but smoking in public is as despicable as defecating in public so why not take the hard line...

(1) Ban the whole evil stygian practice in public;

(2) make the purchase of tobacco products punitively expensive (£20 per pack?)

(3) Ensure that to purchase tobacco products one must apply for an identity card, use of which is monitored centrally and excludes smokers from free healthcare for tobacco related illnesses;

(4) Make all tobacco companies pay 50% of all profits into a new tobacco police force modelled upon the righteous Judge Dredd with powers to eradicate offenders.

People, we must have Zero Tolerance - it is a filthy habit and the sooner it is stamped out entirely the better. And those who perpetuate its unhuman and vile rench.

(And while you're at it, make individuals' car insurance directly proportional to the area of the woofers multiplied by the wattage of their amps. Add £100/year if the windows are blacked out and another £200/year if the exhaust has a diameter greater than three fingers' width (say). Oh, and introduce compulsory birching for anyone throwing a lit fag out a window. Followed closely on by public be-heading.)

Burn the Witches! Stomp the Evil-do-ers!

Corporal I. M. Ranting (retired)

quote:

---

Originally posted by syd:
It's interesting to note that when non smokers were in the minority they were given rights as nonsmokers with special areas on public transport, cinemas, theatres, restaurants etc. Now they are in the majority they reveal no consideration for the rights of the minority who do smoke.

---

Exactly - funny this always happens isn't it?

I for one would stay home and smoke if I still did, when the ban comes into effect. I have to put up with noise torture at work (phones, beeping Palm Pilots etc) but I have to put up with that with no choice. I'm sure there's many things in your work environment that wind you up that you have no control over.

If you don't like smoking, don't go in the pub. Simple. Sorry. Or go to one of those non-smoking pubs - they do exist. You've got smoke free trains, cinemas etc, so you're not doing too bad out of it.

It's like people who whine about bad language in pubs - you don't HAVE to go there - it's not like work where you have no choice.

The amount of tax we shell out on fags should be more than enough to maintain the health of people affected by smoking - whether passive or active. If it's not, ban the SALE of tobacco. AND alcohol - since that costs us just as much in casualty fees etc on the weekend.

__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Top Cat:
(3) Ensure that to purchase tobacco products one must apply for an identity card, use of which is monitored centrally and excludes smokers from free healthcare for tobacco related illnesses;

---

Urm, no. We pay shitloads in tax to smoke as it is. If that money isn't ploughed back into the health service that's not our fault.

Plus of course, governments have known about the ill effects of smoking since the 40s, yet keep getting rich on the taxes on tobacco. SO they can pay for our illnesses.

As I say though, I'm on the cusp of giving up so this could all be moot. I only smoke in the pub anyway.

Smoking in restaurants should be a citizen's capital punishment crime - nothing worse than trying to eat with someone blazing up. Drinking is different.

As for the perfume - yep, couldn't agree more. It makes my eyes (under GP contact lenses) water like mad if there's any quantity in evidence...

__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

quote:

---

Originally posted by syd:
From conversations I've had with them they make think twice about going to the pub if the ban is put in place.

---

But the rest of us will actually go to pubs if they were non-smoking.

Remember it's not just the smell (and the clothes and body washing we have to do after an evening out with all the environmental impact that has), but the health issues with non-smokers breathing in smoke.

As for rights, I do believe that people who want to smoke should be allowed to. Just not in places that can harm others. I especially have real problems about parents smoking in homes where there are children.

Me being a non-smoker doesn't harm smokers. The opposite is true.

Regards

Stephen

Why should the majority of people have to miss out on enjoying restaurants, pubs, cafes etc just to cater to a minority of selfish drug addicts?

GET BACK ON POINT!!!!!!!!!



I want to know if the bans work or not and what happens to social life!

Regards

Stephen

quote:

---

People, we must have Zero Tolerance - it is a filthy habit and the sooner it is stamped out entirely the better. And those who perpetuate its unhuman and vile rench.

---

the only problem is that Smoking is actually good for the economy. Smokers contribute huge amounts to the exchequer, and then tend to die early. Even if they spend their last 6 months in hospital, this pales into insignificance compared to a non-smoker living another 20years, drwing a state pension, having free prescriptions and popping into hospital ever more frequently. Can't find the data but there was an Economist study a few years ago that confirmed this. For the financial health of the nation we need to encourage smoking!

However - I don't smoke and do find it suprising how difficult it still is to find non-smoking places. Of the 20 - 30 local pubs, just three have non-smoking areas, and even these tend to be 'just a little less smokey' rather then smoke free. I'm suprised that basic economics doesn't work when the majority of people don't smoke - I for one would much rather go to a totally non-smoking pub, but they just don't exist. Either it's because the majority of smokers are now young and that's the age of the majority of pub-goers. Or it's because each group of chums will have a few smokers so they continue to head to the smoking allowed ares.

Phil

Although Berlin's streets are supposedly the dirtiest in Germany, in contrast to
London you can eat off of them. I've literally just returned from a part of town
I rarely visit and got pretty stoned by the air just walking down the high road,
and very grassy it was too. In my last job (last year) smoking in the whole
office block was forbidden and those that wished to inmbibe had to go outside by
the bins however many times a day they wished snow or shine, Big Boss or little
gofer alike (no exceptions at any time -sackable even; based on insurance fire
risk, and our own individual contracts.)
It is now illegal to smoke on station
platforms (on the spot fines of up to €50) buses & trains no no's. Bars and
restuarants it's up to the people going there if they want a non smoking place or
not, or sometimes there are alternate evenings, especially when kids are in the
house (Cinemas absolute Taboo).
I smoke in pubs on occassion when I drink ? and
toke also, I agree with my London brother though that fucking after shaves and
perfumes should be outlawed, nothing wrong with good old three day sweat to liven
up the sawdust on the deck, innit.

Fritz Von Tolleranceoutwayspcnutterseverytime

N.B. Re noise pollution wether in w-shop or office I wear a walkman, phone rings hard luck, but I see the lights flashing just like on my modem.

Graham Ricketts

I'd also be interested in anyone responding in this thread who can answer the original question from Stephen. Here are my thoughts on this topic though...

Syd

quote:

---

Now they are in the majority they reveal no consideration for the rights of the minority who do smoke.

---

That's because smoking damages the health of those who don't smoke.

I don't think I'd advocate a total ban on smoking, because it's each individuals choice. And, as has been said already, smokers contribute a lot of tax and then often croak at a fairly young age.

A ban in all public places is something I'd be in favour of, it seems to me that when this is mentioned people tend to speak only of pubs and such, believing the problem is just an indoor one. Well, I don't believe it is. It drives me mad when someone is sitting near me at the match who is smoking. I have a season ticket and can't move seat, if a 'non-season ticket seat' is sold to a smoker on a match day basis, that 90 minutes is even worse than usual.

quote:

---

I also believe that the pub trade will be the ones most affected by a total ban, as I have a number of friends and aquaintences who only smoke the occasional cigarette or cigar when in the pub.

---

Well, why don't they smoke this fag or cigar at home? Why do they have to go to the pub to do it where it will bother other people?

quote:

---

From conversations I've had with them they may think twice about going to the pub if the ban is put in place.

---

As a compromise from the position of a total ban on smoking in public places, how about 'smoking rooms'? A bit like public toilets, there could be small buildings dotted around towns where smokers can nip into for a quick fag. There is only one problem with this idea though. I wouldn't expect a non-smoker to go in there to clean up the mess these smokers leave behind. As smokers generally don't dispose of their fag ends in a considerate manner, they just dump them on the ground, eventually the fag ends would build up into a huge pile, so blocking the smoking room. I don't know what would happen then.

[This message was edited by BrianD on WEDNESDAY 25 February 2004 at 16:25.]

A friend of mine who lives in Dublin says it's working really well - no mass pub closures etc.

When my place of work turned non-smoking many years ago the smokers made all the same sort of grumbling noises I'm hearing now - infringement of personal freedom, nobody will tell me where I can or can't smoke and all that nonsense. When the day came though they had to accept it and that they did, pretty much without a murmur as they realised the overwhelming feeling in the place was against them. And the office turned into a much more pleasant environment for everybody.

Q - Do you mind if I smoke?
A - Only if you don't mind if I piss over your head which is probably less harmful and smelly.

Thanks Tom

quote:

---

Originally posted by TomK:
Q - Do you mind if I smoke?
A - Only if you don't mind if I piss over your head which is probably less harmful and smelly.

---

Occasionally, I've used this same argument. It puts out the fag too.



Stephen

quote:

---

That's because smoking damages the health of those who don't smoke.

---

Prove it.

I'm not a smoker. I don't consider a pub or restaurant to be a 'public place' I think whether there is smoking should be at the discretion of the business operator. It's my choice not to go to a pub where there's smoking in exactly the same way as I'd choose not to go to one that didn't look after its beer well.

There's a really unpleasant tang of intolerance to the anti-smoking advocates. It's the same control-freakery that is currently wringing its hands over obesity while simultaneously making it unacceptable for children to take exercise.

What we need is more tolerance and a presumption of freedom. If you don't like smoke, don't go near it.

To add some sort of on-topic content, http://www.davehitt.com/facts/fighting.html

Paul

" I don't consider a pub or restaurant to be a 'public place'"

Surely 'pub' is short for 'public house' and is thus by definition a public place.

Not that I've ever been known to frequent them, obviously.

The Rawlingson fans amongst you will recall Sir Henry being asked by a guest at dinner if he minded him smoking ? Reply, "Not if you don't mind my wife throwing up ?"

Fritz Von Iknowcannabisissafethevoicesinmyheadtellmeso innit:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Paul Ranson:

quote:

---

That's because smoking damages the health of those who don't smoke.

---

Prove it.

Paul

---

I was going to respond to this, but as the research evidence is easily available on then net and in journals, I can't be bothered. It's such a 'schoolyard' response to a serious statement.

And off topic!

Regards

Stephen