No smoking ban comes in on 1st January 2011

Read in the paper today, Euro News Weekly, that the no smoking ban in bars etc. is coming in force on 1st January next year. They were originally going to enforce it on 22nd June, but it wasn't passed.

What is everyone's opinion of this? I am a smoker and don't mind eating in a non smoking restaurant or staying in a non smoking hotel room as I can always go outside for a quick ciggie. However, I do think, that as in England, they are taking away a lot of freedom to do what we want to do wherever and whenever. How are the small bars going to cope with this if they enforce it? And in reality, do you really think that it will be policed properly seeing as a vast majority of Spaniards smoke, including those in the Guardia Civil and Local Police? I can see it happening in major cities, but villages like Galera, Orce, Huescar, Castillejar etc. do you you think the bar owners will take any notice?

Comments please.

I thought the non smoking was enforceble in Spain a couple of years back.

what I do know is bars did not take any notice, nor would they take any notice.

Here we have a small local, in the cold months the only custom they get was the Local regulars that lived in the village for years, most of them smoked. too old to change, and when its too cold they stay at home for their jars so they can continue to smoke, the pub is now in really big finacial trouble, they always hope for the warmer weather so the locals come in but can still smoke outside weather permiting.

Cant imagine 3 js banning smoking

Col


Col

Well Col that is what I read in the papers. Like you, can't see any locals taking a blind bit of notice of it...... At least it's warm in the summer for us smokers to go outside!!!!!

The main reason we don't frequent may bars in Spain is that generally they are smoke filled.
As non-smokers we deliberately wear easily washable clobber, so that it goes straight into the washing machine when we get home after a rare night out in a smoke filled bar.
The smell does cling to clothes and hair. My throat even feels sore after a night out in a smoky bar. Can't be healthy.
I probably I upset a chap the other night when he asked if we minded if he smoked during a meal we were sharing. I said I would prefer him not to... whoops... that was a conversation stopper.
I really don't mind if people want to smoke, providing their smoke goes into, and stays in their lungs, rather than mine.
Well that's my p'ennorth!
x

I'm with you there Rosie! Yes, there was a ban put in place a couple of years ago but, after a couple of smoke free months, customers were once again smoking in most bars. The thing I find really amazing is our local doctor who has a quick fag every morning in her consulting room before she starts! x

I dont smoke but my other half does and I always want to sit outside but he doesnt like the sun so wants to sit inside!!! I HATE cigarette smoke and no matter where I sit it seems to find its way to me.

Thankfully since having a little boy my other half prefers us to sit outside! and OH no longer smokes in the car!

The smoking ban that was imposed a few years back only applied to bars which had a floor area exceeding 100 sq m, excluding the space behind the bar. That meant about 95% of Spanish bars weren't affected. Those that were (such as Emilios) were given time to complete building work that would enable them to offer a completely smoke-free space as well as an under-100 sq m smoking area, if they wished. I'm a smoker, too, but can well understand how unpleasant (and unfair) it is for non-smokers to be forced to be in a smoky environment. I feel that bar owners should be free to decide whether or not they wish to go smokeless, and the punters could then vote with their feet. Certainly the ban has been very damaging to the licensed trade in the UK.

Rosie wrote:The main reason we don't frequent may bars in Spain is that generally they are smoke filled.
As non-smokers we deliberately wear easily washable clobber, so that it goes straight into the washing machine when we get home after a rare night out in a smoke filled bar.
The smell does cling to clothes and hair. My throat even feels sore after a night out in a smoky bar. Can't be healthy.
I probably I upset a chap the other night when he asked if we minded if he smoked during a meal we were sharing. I said I would prefer him not to... whoops... that was a conversation stopper.
I really don't mind if people want to smoke, providing their smoke goes into, and stays in their lungs, rather than mine.
Well that's my p'ennorth!
x

I have every sympathy Rosie - as a non smoker, I have often found my self left alone at a restaurant table, during the meal, as each of my fellows diners left the table, en masse, between each course, to go outside for a fag! At Emilio's, if the restaurant is not too busy, the waitress takes pity on the smokers and often brings over an ash tray to let them smoke in the restaurant

I smoked for many years, then when I gave up I suddenly realised just how much your clothes and everything smell when you come in the house.
That said, people have a right to decide whether you smoke or not but preferably not in a restaurant or bar where I am!

For me, I frequently suffer from Laryngitis (for those of you who know me, know it must be awful for me not to be able to talk) and I had it 4 times in one year after regularly using the same bar in the village. However, I realise it has been a Spanish tradition, and I am sure when they start to try to enforce it the locals will not be happy!

I know I have a problem being in a smoky environment so for me, the best way is to avoid it and let those enjoy their cigarettes whilst they can!

Like Jenny said, from what I hear from people in the UK, the total ban in the UK has had a really bad affect on many bars so for small communities here in Spain I would imagine, it will be tough when they enforce the law.

Here in the UK, Aparently in buckingham they are having a crack down on drivers eating in there cars whether a mars bar or a sandwich!!!.

so in a works van or family/company car
a) your shouldnt smoke
b) you shouldnt eat
c)you shouldnt talk on the phone even if hands free

So, are the days of balancing a bucket of KFC and a milk shake on the pasenger seat whilst eating a chicken leg without getting in on you shirt trousers or car seat gone, forget about crashing into things gone forever!!!

As for the smokers you cant smoke in the street,a pub,a car,a bus or train or a plane,or in the house or the garden.Nowhere near kids, grandma,or the wife, nor in a cinema, club,comunity ctr, or a hotel bathroom..


So where do all the smokers go then?

Cos if I smoked, I be dying for a fag

only joking! I gave up some years back.

My wife Sharon after 35 years of 20 a day just Stopped 2 years ago in spain, as in stopped!! no patches or nothing, she said the best reason for giving up was seeing me ill.

Any way well done to sharon,2.5 years later she hasnt missed it at all
we would be a smokeless zone, apart from my woodburner and diesel engines

Col xxx

Well done Sharon!!!x

I remember Sharon raiding the local garage and clearing them of a certain flavour of crisps... the crisps obviously helped then Sharon!
DOES NOT seem like two and a half years ago... where did that go to?
Oh yes I forgot.
WELL DONE SHARON. What have you done with the money you've saved????

Col, funny you should mention balancing a KFC. Best/worst I've ever seen was a lady driving a Jag on the M4 near Swindon at over 80 mph, knife and fork in hand and obviously eating from something on her lap. Worst of all it was a metal knife and fork so obviously she did it regularly!!!!

Not plastic? Posh bird then!

Congratulations to Sharon for packing up the weed. I packed up around 36 years ago and wish I knew how I did it cos I could make a fortune selling the idea. Just woke up one morning and the thought of another ciggy made me feel sick - think I was brain-washed as hubby has never smoked. Have the UK Government taken into account how much revenue they will lose in tax if everyone packs up?

Ha! When those supposedly scary little messages started appearing on cigarette packets, I printed off a load of my own, saying "Smoking funds the NHS" - which it does (or did) - and most dedicated smokers don't live long enough to become a burden on the state.

Ha ha liked that Jenny! Thing is, when the warning messages appeared on UK cigs, they didn't on cigs bought in the eu like Spain, Greece etc. I suppose they were healthier cigs than those in the UK!!??

On a serious note though, the ban will cause hardship to small bars in the villages, especially in the winter and at the end of the day, why was it OK to smoke freely anywhere in the 60's and 70's and even 80's plus, but suddenly not? Being a smoker, I find that my freedom of choice is being compromised, but would never smoke where I am not able to - I don't even smoke in my own home and haven't done for years. I have suffered rain, wind, snow and God knows what else to go and have a cig in my garage rather than pollute the house! I am a considerate smoker, but still believe that Governments should not tell you what you can and not do where and when. That is not a free country in my opinion.

The concern is for non smokers health being compromised by smoke in public places. Passive smoking is just as bad or worse for your health than actually smoking. Non smokers don't have a choice, when bars and restaurants and smoke filled.
Ideally we should have smoking bars and non-smoking bars I think, please everyone by giving them the choice.

Totally agree, Ann. As I said above, I can quite understand how unpleasant it is for non-smokers to be forced to socialise in smoke-laden bars and restaurants, quite apart from serious health considerations (and I understand that passive smoking is more dangerous than active smoking). If bar owners were free to decide whether to go for the smoking or non-smoking punters, that would be fair and everyone would be happy.

When I was teaching in the UK there were still smoking staffrooms in many schools: usually disgustingly dark, dank cells in the bowels of the earth, but my goodness, they were the places to be for creative cross-curricular thinking. All the subversive mavericks (aka pathetic addicts) used to gather there and dream up amazing schemes of work.

Ah, but have they actually PROVED that passive smoking causes death or lung cancer? I think the debate is still out. A friend of mine's mother died of lung cancer - never smoked, never went in smoky places - so what caused that? Unfortunately smoking is blamed for a lot of diseases and cancer because it is too easy an excuse, but what we all need to realise is that everyone has a cancer gene in their body and what triggers the cancer is the problem. Not always related to smoking I am afraid. It is just an excuse to blame it on smokers. How come most of our parents and grandparents lived to a grand old age, suffering through the war, smoking and eating very little healthy food? We have become a nation of wimps to be honest. Smoking is bad for you, I agree, but then again the Government or whoever will tell you that eating fresh fruit is bad for you too.... as they may contain too many pesticides. Work that one out - it will probably cause cancer. I rest my case.

Littletrog - I, too, am an enthusiastic smoker and have been since I was about 14 (nearly 50 years ago - guess I'm lucky still to be around!). I'm also an intelligent adult, although I guess those two statements are mutually exclusive. Unusually for me, I haven't done the research before making the statement, but I'm fairly sure that the link between passive smoking and various nasty diseases has been conclusively proved. My grandfather died of lung cancer at the age of 42, having never smoked in his life and, yes, it's known that certain people have a predisposition, maybe genetically caused, towards cancer, but I would never use any of that stuff as a justification for smoking. There is no justification - it's a daft thing to do, and if I were 14 all over again I'd probably never start, but I actively enjoy it and have absolutely no desire to live to 103, stricken with Alzheimer's and a burden on my children. The minute I'm diagnosed with some nasty smoking-related and terminal disease, I'll sell the house & buy a one-way ticket to Zurich - after doing a trip down the Nile, visiting India and Morocco again and various other journeys, if I have time - preferably with my grandchildren in tow. My husband has a degenerative disease of the brain which will eventually kill him, slowly and horribly. He started smoking again when he was diagnosed, after having stopped for 25 years, and I can completely understand why. There's absolutely no good reason for smoking (and certainly none for inflicting it on other people, who have the right to make their own choices) - but there are worse ways to die.

On the other hand - Sharon: respect!!

A filthy, health damaging, smelly anti-social habit that costs a fortune and makes millions of people unhappy, either they smoke and can't give up or don't smoke and are sick of other peoples smoke. I have now smoked for 40+ years and still can't give up. I have given up far worse than smoking. One day "they" will get found out putting some chemical in them that makes them more addictive than anything else I have used (and that's a lot I can tell you). Anyway gotta stop to find my ciggies!!!.

More addictive than heroin?... sure I read that in a medical journal somewhere.
4,000 chemicals identified.
One of the main ones is toluene.. is that rocket fuel?
I remember reading all this stuff but be damned if I can accredit it to any publication.

Yes Rosie, more addictive than Heroin, cocaine, alchohol etc.. Most people in the rehabs I had contact with still smoked despite wishing to stop. you can take heroin all your life (and some have) and it will not kill you, only dirty needles and manky heroin or overdoses do that. Heroin is also cheaper at source and only affects those taking it (Physical health wise that is, I won't include ill health through stress suffered by relatives of heroin users or maniac pushers killing all and sundry.). So which one can ANYONE buy over the counter anywhere?. I wouldn't mind a ban on selling ciggies, but that would create the same underground situation as other illegal sustances. Time for a ciggie after that rant!!

As an asthma sufferer who loves bar crawling I have to admit that I´ll be glad if they bring in the ban - at the moment if I want to be smoke-free I have to drink at home - not my idea of fun.