• Smoking at Spanish restaurants, bars banned
    72 replies, posted
Today's article and picture brought to you by [url=http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/01/01/spain.smoking/index.html?hpt=T2]CNN[/url]! [img]http://imgkk.com/i/nrby.jpg[/img] Spain's infamously smoke-clogged cafes, bars and clubs will become clearer after the ban. [release][highlight]TL;DR[/highlight] # Bar owners worry about loss of revenue # Government says businesses will be OK # Law takes effect Sunday [/release] [release]Madrid, Spain (CNN) -- A law in Spain that goes into effect Sunday bans smoking in indoor bars and restaurants, and gives the nation some of the toughest smoking restrictions in western Europe. The law will put Spain in line with Britain, France and Italy, which prohibit smoking in all enclosed public places. Spain's hotel and restaurant federation warns of a 10 percent drop in business and tens of thousands of job losses in the midst of the nation's deep economic crisis. But the government says similar laws elsewhere in Europe did not hurt business in the long run. Juan Carlos Sanchez says he goes to a neighborhood bar several times a day to have a cigarette with his coffee or beer. Like many smokers here, he is adamantly opposed to the new law. "If I can't smoke here in the bar, maybe I'll come just once a day, or not at all. When I ask for a coffee or beer, but then have to smoke in the street, I don't understand," said Sanchez, who manufactures filters for air conditioners. Fernando Vazquez, owner of a bar and restaurant in Madrid where Sanchez was smoking late last week, said the smoke-free air starting on Sunday might be nice. But it will come at a price for his business. "Spaniards spend a lot of time in bars and will probably spend less time now," Vazquez said. "Instead of drinking three or four beers, they'll have one." Spaniards have had a relationship with tobacco for 500 years. Explorer Christopher Columbus saw tobacco on his voyages to the New World and Spanish sailors brought it to Europe. So undoing old habits is not easy here. A law four years ago banned smoking at work. But it essentially allowed Spain's 300,000 bars and restaurants to choose whether they would prohibit smoking. Most did not. This time, there are supposed to be no exceptions, as the government tries to reduce the 50,000 tobacco-related deaths each year. Nearly a third of Spaniards puff away and smoke-filled bars have been the norm. Business owner Florentino Matamala is a former smoker who supports the legislation. "People can't quit overnight and those who are used to smoking while having a coffee are going to have it rough. But I think it's positive, for the general good."[/release]
Well its banned here in Britain, have not noticed much business loss.
After living in britain, the ability to smoke in restaurants on my holiday to spain was one of the highlights of being there. A shame, although probably for the best.
I thought by Spanish you were using some kind of messed up euphemism for tex mex or something.
Oh god we got to walk outside to smoke. WHAT WILL WE EVER DO.
We had a shitstorm like this a while ago, and some bars built ventilated heated areas for indoor smoking (though that's rare). Otherwise, people just got used to it. As I non-smoker, I can say: Good.
[QUOTE=Vasili;27125275]Well its banned here in Britain, have not noticed much business loss.[/QUOTE] A lot of pubs have shut down since the banning of smoking. [editline]1st January 2011[/editline] Plus Cigarette smoke covered up the stench of toilets and sweat that plagues what pubs are left.
It's banned here in finland too, i didn't see a thread abot it thought.
Kinda sucks that the government mandates that all restaurants and bars can't have smoking. Why can't an individual bar owner allow his patrons to smoke?
Good. Smoking is for morons.
They should just leave it up to the business owner.
[QUOTE=World Eater;27126327]Kinda sucks that the government mandates that all restaurants and bars can't have smoking. Why can't an individual bar owner allow his patrons to smoke?[/QUOTE] Why can't an individual bar owner allow a patron to commit slow suicide and take everyone around him with him? Gee I wonder.
cool. if smokers have a probably with it they can get one of those electronic vaporizer cigarettes
Cigarette smoke makes food taste awful anyway, it's for the best.
[QUOTE=Vasili;27125275]Well its banned here in Britain, have not noticed much business loss.[/QUOTE] Smoking is fuck off big in Spain, so its probably going to have an impact
It's illegal in bars/restaurants in virginia, thank god. There used to be a Kirk Patrick's near where I live and it was filled with smoke.
[QUOTE=RayDark;27126336]Good. Smoking is for morons.[/QUOTE] Cigars are enjoyable sometimes...
Fina-fucking-lly, I hate going to a bar and smelling like smoke for the rest of the week.
[QUOTE=Coffee;27125839]Plus Cigarette smoke covered up the stench of toilets and sweat that plagues what pubs are left.[/QUOTE] This, the smell of stale smoke isn't as bad as the smell of stale beer, vomit and sweat. [editline]1st January 2011[/editline] It's probably for the best, although I can imagine Spaniards being the sort of people that would just carry on.
I believe they made it illegal through out most of the United States, but if you want to allow smokers you must have a permit, and a clearly marked area of where you can smoke on the property.
[QUOTE=POLOPOZOZO;27127583]Cigars are enjoyable sometimes...[/QUOTE] Yes, so is hubbly, but doing it in a crowded area and every day of your life is for morons.
Good, the last thing I want to smell when I'm trying to eat is the smoke coming out of that hole in your neck.
It's banned in France too.
[QUOTE=Coffee;27125839]A lot of pubs have shut down since the banning of smoking. [editline]1st January 2011[/editline] Plus Cigarette smoke covered up the stench of toilets and sweat that plagues what pubs are left.[/QUOTE] That's wierd because in Ireland when they banned it business for bars and pubs went up. Quite a bit. Obviously some smokers had a hissy fit and stopped going to bars, but the people who like clean air more than stale smoke more than made up the difference. Plus it's been awhile since I was at a bar that didn't have a pretty decent smokers garden, and I don't know what sort of bars you go to but all you ever smell in pubs here is...booze.
[QUOTE=RayDark;27126336]Good. Smoking is for morons.[/QUOTE] Coming from a drinker such as myself Id say in some sense drinking is for morons too. Its nearly just as bad for your health, albeit its not as addictive. Still, alcohol doesn't pollute the surrounding air quite so much. Its a sensible regulation but the reasoning behind it is not [I]smoking is for morons.[/I]
I think that there should have to be a large non-smoker area, and a smoking area is up to the owner.
[QUOTE=Angua;27126011]It's banned here in finland too, i didn't see a thread abot it thought.[/QUOTE] Indeed, though it's a long time ago. I remember being under aged, smoking cigarettes in this one pizzeria while waiting for food :v: Oh and, there still are some bars that have a separate smoking rooms in them. Bar clubs or whatever you name it. Though the smoking rooms are DISGUSTING and I wouldn't suggest you going there, you will suffocate and vomit and shit, not cool. Smoked an agent-weed-joint in there, it was fun
My state banned this like a year or two ago, and everyone is perfectly fine. Now restaurants don't stink anymore.
I don't understand news article titles. Would it really kill them to put an and between restaurants and bars? Anyway this is pretty retarded, there isn't much of a need to ban smoking other than to make things smell better.
Smoke in the air makes my eyes water like a bitch.
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