At last some sense re the smoking ban in Britain

[LizzygotDizzy]

Yay! about time too!

EEC legislation ( Toms Act ).

MEP's have voted and decided all governments must supply an indoor area in pubs and clubs for smokers.

You must declare your venue smoking or non smoking if above a certain cubic size.In all cases an indoor area must be

available to smokers.

At last common sense prevails.

Order comes into force beginning of April 2008.

I have no doubt the British Government will still try to block this.It is unlikely they can now prevent this happening by

April.

So all smokers back to normal in the pub.

And everyone has the choice on whether or not to enter a smoking establishment, and I won't have to freeze my tits of

outside anymore like some leper!

[muffins78]

REally - is this true!! Oh we back inside again YAY... Although I have just got used to going outside and liked how I wasnt smoking as much :-)

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

hurrah

[benjaminty]

Awful news!

[Brendan]

The "no smoking ban" ? :-S

[KalamityKel]

I always thought you could choose whether u went into a smoking or non smoking establishment... b4 the ban came into effect that is.

[lozzyloz]

Bit early for April fools?

[dulwichmum]

I was a heavy smoker but managed to give up about 8 years ago. It is as hard an addiction to kick (I have read) as drugs, and it certainly took me several attempts. I really empathise with fight for freedom of choice, but really, smoking in a confined space like a pub is forcing the staff and other customers to inhale other peoples smoke. I think that the ban should remain in force as it is...

[Brendan]

I think a lot of quitting smoking is people bigging it up. Yes it has a physical addiction but if you realise what this is and why it is happening (it is hardly rocket science and something most of us, hopefully, already knew about when we started) you can quite easily get through the week or so of withdrawal and feeling irritated.

These ominous ads for quitting on the telly should be banned. They make it out to be this huge thing that you need help and drugs to get through. Yeah if you don?t want to feel withdrawal use a nicotine supplement. But this scare mongering by the drug companies about the horrors of nicotine withdrawal is unnecessary. Lots of people quit smoking every day it is nothing to be afraid of.

I personally don?t like people, especially the government, telling what I can and cannot do so in principle I have always opposed the smoking ban. I do however quite like the way pubs and restaurants are now smoke free.

[Polly D]

WHAT! I have to say, I'd be gutted if the ban was reversed. I love not coming home reeking of fags after a night out and smoking is so last year darling.

[LizzygotDizzy]

Brendan Wrote:

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> The "no smoking ban" ? :-S

Yeah, noted and quickly amended lol! must have been the wine this afternoon!:-S

[LizzygotDizzy]

I'm all for restaurants and eating establishments being smoke free zones, but nightclubs and large pubs in the evening (day time they could remain smoke free for those eating lunch time meals etc. There must be some way of finding a happy medium. And as for all of the non-smokers dashing out to the pub/club now that they are smoke free, what a load of old trollop!! My friend runs a pub and says its never been so quiet and she has lost money/trade since the ban, where are all the bloody non-smokers then?

[SeanMacGabhann]

Any chance of a link for something to substantiate this?

anyone think april is a bit soon for many businesses to sort out this room?

kel is correct to say all businesses had to choice to declare themselves one way or another before the ban. The reason legislation is required is that smokers like company as well as nicotine so to keep groups happy most places allowed smoking. Its much easier for a smoker to pop out for a fag than it is for a non smoker to. . . Oh wait they dont smoke so all their mates are in another pub

the initial posting carries the sub text that we are all keen for the legislation to be repealed. We aint

[Nero]

Liz,

It won't happen.

Nero

[mockney piers]

too right Sean.

Plus can find nothing at all to back this story up anywhere.

Link??

[Domitianus]

Still trying to figure what the "some sense" bit is in compelling staff to work in a carcinogenic atmosphere and to create a similar atmosphere for those who don't wish to smoke (I mean, different times of day? Purleeze, do you really think the air is going to clear just by opening a window and giving it a few minutes?)

Maybe the EC will go on to do dome other "sensible" things - like forcing us to bring back fully leaded petrol for those who want to put it in their cars? Can't wait, me.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Last time I checked (8pm on a Sunday evening) most of the pubs on LL were full of non-smokers

My brother runs a pub as well and he too echoes the sentiment that the smoking ban has had an effect. When I ask him if business was also down the year BEFORE the smoking-ban he reluctantly fesses up that this was so.. so even without the ban, business would most likely be down in these places

If (more) pubs had grasped the smoking nettle a lot sooner a lot of them wouldn't be in the predicament they are in (a similar argument applies to the music business and digital media but that's for another day)

If the ban was repealed tomorrow, some pubs would see a minor uplift - but the trend would remain downwards. Any landlord or landlady relying on the post-war formula of running a pub is going the way of the dodo - and that has nowt to do with the smoking ban

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

I love the fact you can go to a pub, cafe, bar, club and not have to breath in toxic fumes anymore.

[Bellenden Belle]

I too can find nothing to back this up - and hope to God that it is an early April Fool's day. It is so much more pleasant in pubs nowadays.

And let's not forget that the smoking ban is also there to protect employees who might not have the luxury of choosing where they work, and should have the right to earn money without damaging their health.

[boosboss]

Gotta feel sorry for the Dry Cleaners tho! They've seen a downturn in business :-S

[atila the gooner]

Hopefully, if this is true and is implemented, I can go back to enjoying the occasional cigar in my local. Bloody nanny state drives me fecking mad. Don't eat that, don't drink this. I'll make my own mind up thanks!!!!!

[Marmora Man]

atila the gooner Wrote:

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> Hopefully, if this is true and is implemented, I

> can go back to enjoying the occasional cigar in my

> local. Bloody nanny state drives me fecking mad.

> Don't eat that, don't drink this. I'll make my own

> mind up thanks!!!!!

ATG - I agree in principle with your stance - freedom of choice is a key right, but only as long as your decision has no negative impact on others.

Choosing to smoke is fine, but imposing your smoke on me in a public place isn't. My choice to drink whisky and beer in the same public place is a free choice - but if I get drunk and obnoxious then I'm impacting on you and would expect to be thrown out and perhaps barred in future.

I support the smoking ban in public places - I'd prefer it came about through market forces and public choice but I'll accept the good arising from this particular Nanny State decision.

[KalamityKel]

Marmora Man Wrote:

> Choosing to smoke is fine, but imposing your smoke

> on me in a public place isn't. My choice to drink

> whisky and beer in the same public place is a free

> choice - but if I get drunk and obnoxious then I'm

> impacting on you and would expect to be thrown out

> and perhaps barred in future.

Sadly when you (generally) are in such a state you are no longer capable of noticing the impact you are having on people. And these people don't necessarily have the choice to avoid you where you avoid smoking places.

I think pubs/nightclubs should be able to have the choice whether they permit smoking inside. I doubt it would effect trading overlly. You could have two pubs next to each other, one smoking, the other not which would be full of each side.

Keeping smokers outside is terrible. Not only for them but for neighbouring residents having to put up with mass clouds of smoke drifting on the wind. For pubs that don't have outside space anyone entering the estashblishment has to walk through a cloud of smoke and often rowdy drinkers - not always a thrill! Also, the cigarette butts being flicked or stubbed everywhere but the silly "extinguishing" guard things attached to the wall.

I remember being in Dublin, before the ban was enforced over here, in a hotel there was a wedding reception being held at the same hotel I was at which obviously went on late into the night. With everyone going "out back" to have a smoke drove the smoke everywhere throughout the hotel. You couldnt get away from it. If the place allowed smoking I probably would have escaped a smelly nights sleep. *shrugs*

[Nero]

The psychological tide has turned on this one, in the same way, I predict, it will against over-drinking in about fifteen years' time. I do have sympathy for the smokers: I'm sure some of them feel truly aggrieved, but, unfortunately for them, they are now on the wrong side of history. Faster then I'd thought, people are now looking at the previous situation, where smokers could light up almost anywhere, as being strange and unbelievable. Smokers hanging around outside pubs look like recalcitrant sixth-formers, plugging on with their increasingly taboo habit with an unconvincing devil-may-care attitude. Nero

[BJL]

Lizzygotdizzy - where did you get this information from? I've tried to find an online source but only found it mentioned briefly on a pub message board. Same with the mysterious "Toms Act"...