Just heard about this on a group on Facebook, of all places. Anyone else aware of this? Here's a link to their website. It's set for the 31st of December.

Personally, I'd love for pubs and clubs to revert back to how it used to be. I'm sure quite a few of you agree: the smell of smoke from a night out will have been replaced by that of sweat, alcohol, and occasionally vomit. I never had a problem with the smell because I grew up around smokers, and used to smoke myself, but that's the general consensus I've heard from people I know (non-smokers). I just really can't see this having any effect whatsoever. Not that I think advertising all these venues is going to have the police knocking on their doors on the 31st, it'll probably just get glossed over or ignored completely.

I guess I just can't see why there can't be a compromise that suits both parties. Surely better ventilation in smoking areas of restaurants or similar would have been adequate?

They don't want to pay for better vents when they could just say no smokers and appeal to the soccor moms around the world.
Also-$$$

I thought this was about 4-20

If you let people smoke in bars, before long they'll be drinking in bars.

Aye, pubs are crap now. They tend to smell of stale beer now.

Smoking should be allowed or not allowed based on the discretion of the owner, not the damn government.

The thing I tend to find is something that's really unhelpful for smokers, and that's that since I quit smoking I find pubs just as enjoyable. Non-smokers take this as meaning that I (and therefore others) don't need to smoke to enjoy pubs, whereas it should probably mean that either I'd be enjoying it more if I were smoking (God, which is true at times!) or that there really isn't any difference in smoking and non-smoking venues, so it should be allowed. I'm fairly certain someone on here posted something about properly ventilated clubs being either more beneficial or cheaper than imposing the smoking ban. I'd be interested in reading the sources for that if it were true.

As an ex-smoker, you may not notice a difference, but how about the people who never smoked? I'd be willing to bet that never-smokers are happier with smoke-free pubs.

Lung Cancer FTW.

If i couldnt smoke 12 a day i'd be forced to kill humanity.:suicide:

I miss smoking in clubs

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Smoking in pubs and clubs should be allowed, it's not like they pay attention to any other health-related issues in there. And also, you Brits always take everything way too far. No wonder you people always star in stuff like 1984 and V for Vendetta. Geez!

If a substance is legal, it should be legal anywhere unless otherwise expressed by the owner of the property. Honestly, the blunt infraction on our rights when it comes to smoking is beyond my comprehension.

Don't forget The Patriot!

Well you see there shouldn't actually be any laws, we should be able to rely on people to not be utter inconsiderate morons as they go about their daily lives.

But back in the present day, where we don't have a perfect society and there are morons all around us, we have to introduce laws that interfere with our lives for the purposes of our own safety and sanity. The majority of smokers are considerate enough, but the fact is their habit does adversely affect the health of those around them.

Pubs are legally public places which means they fall under public building legislations, the government has decided (for pretty acceptable reasons) that people have the right to not breath in smoke in public buildings.

Also, going outside for a smoke gives smokers a very good way of leaving dull conversations, so they can't really complain. The right to leave a dull conversation is far more important than the right to smoke in pubs.

I've never smoked, and I wouldn't mind people smoking everywhere: at work, in cafeterias, restaurants, and pubs.

That sounds wonderful and great in principle, doesn't it? But think about it.

Before the smoking ban, it was up to the discretion of the bars and clubs whether to allow smoking in them. They could ban it in their clubs, if they wanted to. But every single bar and club did allow it, for the simple reason of competition. If one club suddenly decided to ban smoking, but the club across the street (and indeed every other club in town) still allowed it then all the smokers and their friends would simply go to that other club, and the non-smoking pub would suffer terrible losses. Even if they'd build up a reputation as a nice-smelling, non-smokey club this would take some time and probably not cover the loss of income from the smokers. So even if a club really wanted to ban smoking indoors, they wouldn't because no other club would.
An overall ban in all clubs and bars levels the playing field, and is the only way for any club to instigate a no-smoking policy without going out of business.

At university my students union had a vote on whether to ban smoking in union buildings. Not only did the vote have an unprecented turnout (most university referendums don't even reach quorum making them irrelevant) but the result was overwhelmingly in favour of banning smoking in the buildings (something like 90%).

What happened?

The union didn't implement the policy on the grounds that it would lose income and would be unable to function (union referendums can be overruled if they would cause financial harm to the union). The decision was instead to wait until the national smoking ban came into effect so that the policy could be introduced without the union suffering financially.

i dont go to clubs anymore because they smell of BO and vomit peace ******s smoking makes you look badass

Very.

Detty says : "you smoke, i choke, splutter splutter.":o

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You are correct. But you are kind of forgetting one thing. If there actually was a demand for no-smoking pubs, owners would find it profitable to make a no-smoking pub.

In your example, you are totally ignoring that demand schedule. Your scenario includes a non-smoking pub in a place where everyone wants to smoke, which is entirely unrealistic.

However you do realise more people that don't smoke go to pubs than people that do, right?

People tend not to like second hand smoke, and it must be such a hardship to walk 20 feet outside to not annoy other people.

The only reason it isn't illegal is because it's (cigarettes) a gold mine. And as such, the big tobacco corporations shell out millions in protecting the industry. Governments know they can't fight the corporations and thus opt for the much safer preventative route. Seriously, how many governments are going to shell out tax payer dollars to counter-claim, counter-claims made by the tobacco industry just to pass a full ban. They know the corporations are going to appeal the ban with everything they've got. It's much easier and less hassle free for them to just shell out millions (to a lesser extent) in anti-smoking campaigns and health and public safety bans.

I hate the smell so much and it seems to me that most people that used to be able to smoke inside werent very considerate. Im not saying everyone does this, but I definitely had smoke blown in my face a bunch of times.

I dunno where you guys go, but all the bars I go to dont smell like stale beer and vomit :p

Wow. What a stupid and horrible idea. Eff it. Ban it everywhere.

A bar is different from a Pub and they smell now thanks to nobody caring about the smells from ages past because all you could smell was smoke.

The good places have cleaned up.

dude, i want a cig, just seeing this, Menthol all the ****ing way, there banning public smoking as of 08 in my town

someone's just angry he can't wheel into a bar and smoke in minnesota

>.>

When the government makes tobacco illegal I will be one mushroom cloud laying mother****er. That's bull****. If I want to **** myself up in the privacy of my own home let me. You all can drink milk, eat ****ty food, have ****ty worldviews, and treat other people ****ty, then I can inhale burning plant in privacy.



EDIT:This is in regards to the idea that tobacco should be illegal everywhere.

Owners should be able to decide, but with restrictions depending on the type and construction of their club. Inspections for ventilation mebe? Haha yes. IF you comply you get it.

I should be allowed to punch someone thats blowing smoke at me in the face.

You know, it would just be fair to kill a random smoker every time someone dies of second-hand smoking.

That would be okayotacular.

Yes this. Let us return to the fictional version of wild west bars!

Not necessarily true, all the Applebee's restaurants went non-smoking before the ban.. and people still ate there. They had no problems with business.

The question is: should we allow certain people to continue harming the lives of our children by not smoking? Is nicotine deficiency a threat to a society crafted upon the basis of humane values?

You know, if 2nd hand smoke was as bad as they say it is wouldn't smokers be getting 3x the smoke? Smokers inhale 2nd hand smoke too. How come they never bring that up.

Because fear-mongering is about making it sound like the greatest of all threats is to you yourself, and not to others.

Yeah man, it's not like you'll eventually get lung cancer or something similar when you smoke. Crabadonk!

So did anyone actually do this?

On here? Probably not. I don't smoke (anymore), and there was no chance I was going into town on New Year's Eve at any rate. The website doesn't really give any indication of how successful it was either, other than to say Jeremy Clarkson may have kind of done something.

Indeed. There simply wasn't that demand, and it wouldn't be profitable.

Anyway, by far the most dangerous substance in pubs and clubs is alcohol. Maybe they ought ban that also. I don't think there'd be much demand for that.

The same argument could be made about marijuana. Banning it would simply cause the same problem that all other controlled substances cause. The government spends untold billions and do nothing but create a giant crime industry. If you don't like second hand smoke don't frequent buildings where a large amount of people smoke all the time.