Curious to know

[homeagain]

Having returned to live in the UK, for family reasons, after 5 years en france. I was wondering how the smoking in public places ban had gone down.  Smoking seemed so much a part of the social culture.  There are endless bars and pubs up for sale in the UK now, wether that is due to banning smoking inside or how easy it is to buy alcohol from bagain booze, to drink at home, I am not sure.  I don't want to start the usual smoking row, for and against, just curious as to the changes it has made.  Perhaps I should have put this in general discussion, apologies in advance.

[cooperlola]

Dunno, really.  But personally, I don't visit bars now and won't until the sun comes out again and I can enjoy sitting outside.  As a smoker, I prefer to stay at home and drink now.  It's cheaper, and I can puff away as much as I like!

[homeagain]

Very true, plus, the weather eases the situation, certainly from springtime onwards, you can sit outside the bars and restaurants in France, here you see everyone standing in the street, freezing cold and usually soaking wet, huddled round a tin box on the wall.  We did visit one posh establishment and they had a rather nice shed and seating area, next to a babbling book, it was called the "puffers lodge"............People have said "Why DID you come back"? 

[cooperlola]

I visited my old local in Feb and found the usual suspects outside, where the publican (also a smoker) had rigged up a shelter and a nice warm brazier but the problem is that it splits up the evening when half of the group goes outside every so often.  The landlord certainly reckoned that although his food business hadn't been affected much (although it certainly hadn't taken an up-turn), the beer sales were well down, because the people who provided year-round custom in the past weren't staying for so long. 

[homeagain]

Sounds quite personable, your old landlord.  Didn't pubs and bars have smoke eating machines, AC units and extractor fans, therefore limiting the amount of "passive smoking" that others had to endure?  I see no warm braziers here on the west side of the Pennines, howling gales and lots of wetness, so if you can actually light your cigarette, it is gone in a flash, blown away or soaked through, lol.

[SaligoBay]

I think most places and people are respecting the new law.   No doubt some journo will find a grotty bar-tabac somewhere with a sad old smoker in it and write about how the rebellious French just aren't giving in.    Don't believe it when you read it!  [:D]

[Wendy]

There is a small bar just near us and the only ones to frequent it were a certain number of old men from the village who loved to sit there for hours of the day and have a smoke and linger over a drink. Since these stupid laws came in the bar, attached to the fuel station, is nearly always empty now..

I think it should go back to the former...the smokers can sit inside, the non-smokers can sit outside, or vice versa. From what I have seen the only people to frequent places like this are those who like a smoke with their drink...and now the party-poopers have killed this off for them. Funny how the non-smokers though don't seem to be filling the empty seats.

In my opinion if you dont smoke then you can drink at home...leave the bars to those who like a smoke AND a beer. Like they always were intended.

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

Governments must be losing a fortune because of this.

[Russethouse]

But then they are not spending out on health care for smoke realated illnesses....

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

But as people would be living longer governments would have to spend more on pensions and other things like that. Plus people arn't going out to pubs as often and spending more money on more expensive drinks, so governments lose more tax money there.

And smoke related deaths tend to wipe a person out quicker than non smoking deaths.

[Clarkkent]

[quote user="Jura"]

There is a small bar just near us and the only ones to frequent it were a certain number of old men from the village who loved to sit there for hours of the day and have a smoke and linger over a drink. Since these stupid laws came in the bar, attached to the fuel station, is nearly always empty now..

I think it should go back to the former...the smokers can sit inside, the non-smokers can sit outside, or vice versa. From what I have seen the only people to frequent places like this are those who like a smoke with their drink...and now the party-poopers have killed this off for them. Funny how the non-smokers though don't seem to be filling the empty seats.

In my opinion if you dont smoke then you can drink at home...leave the bars to those who like a smoke AND a beer. Like they always were intended.

[/quote]

In the UK only a minority smoke (about 25% I believe) and this minority have prevented me from going to pubs for a LONG time. If the only purpose of pubs and bars is to allow smokers to gather together then the sooner they go out of business the better.

Having said that, I believe that the death knell of the English pub was Mrs Thatcher's unwarranted interference with an institution she did not understand by abolishing the Beer Orders and breaking the tied-house system. In the name of Competition she interfered with an age-old institution and broke its back. Pubs are now inexpensive restaurants.

I'm not sure whether French experience parallels this.

[Eos]

[quote user="LyndaandRichard"]

And smoke related deaths tend to wipe a person out quicker than non smoking deaths.

[/quote]

My father was diagnosed with emphysema, caused by smoking, about 19 years ago. His is a very slow death involving multiple yearly hospitalisations, oxygen machines, a trunkful of daily steroids, inhalers, nebulisers, stomach settlers, probably monthly anti-biotics, numerous disability aids and extreme boredom as he is unable to do even the most basic chore for himself to pass time, although the 20 or so steps that I take between his armchair and the bathroom can occupy him for nearly 30 minutes. My mother's life is dedicated to his care so two lives have been given over to this disease.

[Dick Smith]

I agree, Eos. I watched my father die slowly and painfully of lung cancer, after smoking for his whole life.

I'm sure that the fun was worth it, and our grief was misplaced...

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

Eos and Dick Smith, I am sorry to hear of your circumstances regarding losing loved ones to smoking. My grandad too died of lung cancer caused by smoking, but he died at an early age and his death was relatively quick. His wife who didn't smoke, died 20 years later, a slow death.

This is the point I was trying to make how much money the government would lose due to the banning of smoking. Perhaps I am being too cycnical towards governments in this case and they do care about the people they are apparently serving.

No offence was intended to anyone.

R.