Personally I can't wait for this to come into effect after years of breathing in other peoples smoke.


Thousands of council officers will be enforcing the ban
Thousands of council staff are being trained to police the smoking ban in bars, restaurants and shops in England.

Ministers have given councils £29.5m to pay for staff, who will be able to give on-the-spot £50 fines to individuals and take court action against premises.

They will have the power to enter premises undercover, allowing them to sit among drinkers, and will even be able to photograph and film people.

Smokers' groups and industry officials said the plans were a "waste of money".

The smoking ban is due to come into force on 1 July. It covers virtually all enclosed public places including offices, factories, pubs and bars. But neither outdoor space nor private homes will be affected.

The idea of getting public officials to snoop on people is distasteful and disproportionate

Simon Clark,
Forest

Business owners also have a duty to ensure their customers comply - they are liable for £200 fines if proper signs are not displayed and, potentially, fines of £2,500 if they refuse to enforce the ban.

Local authorities have been given the power to enforce the ban so it does not consume police time.

A government-funded course is expected to train 1,200 council officers in the next few months with more expected to follow later.

Councils will use these fully-trained officers to brief other staff on how to enforce the law as many towns and cities will have scores of officers patrolling public places.

The teams will be made up of new staff and existing officers who will be freed up to carry out inspections and offer advice.

In London, there will be several hundred of the so-called anti-smoking police.

In Westminster, scores of council officers will able to issue fines, but the authority points out that the time taken up policing the ban will be equivalent to only two full-time posts.

Two approaches

Ian Gray, policy officer for the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and chief trainer for the government course, said he expected most councils would take a "softly, softly approach" at first.

"But there will be some occasions where action has to be taken and I am sure the compliance officers will not shy away from that," he added.

"These officers do not have to identify themselves when they go into premises and they can even film and photograph people to gather evidence although this may not be appropriate in many cases.

"There will be two ways of doing this, either staff can go in and identify themselves to the landlord, but they don't have to."

We want to make our presence felt from the start

Andy Hull,
Liverpool City Council

In Nottingham, there will be about 30 officers patrolling the city, composed of new staff and existing environmental health officers.

But the council is also exploring the possibility of getting street wardens, who currently aid the local police force, to help ensure the ban is effectively enforced.

Steve Dowling, director of environment and public protection at Nottingham City Council, said: "We have about 100 wardens and they could keep an eye on whether people are smoking in pubs as they go about their other duties.

"But it is not just about pubs and restaurants.

"We will also be looking at the likes of car garages and shops are complying as well."

'A sledgehammer'

In Liverpool, there will be a core team of about 20 to 25 staff keeping an eye on public places, although in the first few days after the start of the ban the council is planning to do a mass patrol of the city with 200 staff.

HAVE YOUR SAY
If only this money could be spent on having real police on our streets catching and deterring real criminals

Dan Hassett, Folkestone


Send us your comments

Liverpool City Council official Andy Hull said: "We want to make our presence felt from the start, and while we will probably just issue warnings on the first day, we won't be afraid of making an example of people or businesses if they try to make a stand."

And across Wales, where the smoking ban comes into force in April, 500 officers will be carrying out inspections after councils received just under £3m.

But Simon Clark, director of smokers' lobby group Forest, said: "The idea of getting public officials to snoop on people is distasteful and disproportionate.

"It is like taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Smokers will abide by the law so it will be a complete waste of public money."

And a spokesman for the British Beer and Pub Association added the approach was too "heavy-handed and elaborate", especially when the experience in Scotland, which has already introduced a ban, is considered.

"In Scotland, there have been just 11 fixed penalty notices issued to premises in the last 10 months, with many councils having issued none at all."

Are they goin' to stop all the scallies smokin' dope on the number 10 bus? :rolleyes:

LONDON (Reuters) - Nearly half of adults don't know the date of the smoking ban that comes into force in England in 50 days, a survey said on Saturday.

While nine out of 10 had heard of the ban on smoking in public workplaces like pubs, 45 percent couldn't name the correct, July 1, date, the ICM poll for the Department of Health found.

More than half wrongly thought work vehicles, such as taxis, vans and buses, are exempt from the ban

Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have already stubbed out smoking in public workplaces. Ministers say it will save hundreds of lives by protecting people from harmful second-hand smoke.

"We are confident that with the support being provided by the Department of Health and by local councils, everyone should be ready in time," said Public Health Minister Caroline Flint.

The survey of 1,700 adults suggested nearly three-quarters of pub-goers support the ban. Two-thirds say it won't influence how often they go, while seven percent will make fewer visits.

The government has set up a Web site explaining the ban: www.smokefreeengland.co.uk/resources.

http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=4912385


I suppose this Alehouse thread will be no smoking as well Kev ?

I suppose this Alehouse thread will be no smoking as well Kev ?

Smoke anything you like here mate :PDT11

I suppose this Alehouse thread will be no smoking as well Kev ?


Just what I was thinking :unibrow:

?

I can remember the 1st few days of Psynosis, you could put your feet up on your desk, play games all day and smoke at your desk - you couldn't want for a better job back then :PDT11

I quit a few days ago. I went to 'fag ends' and they gave me lots of nicotine patches but I couldn't get a drag out of any of them. Maybe I rolled them up too tight ?

Really feel I could use a ciggy right now though:smoke:

I waiting with anticipation to see how they go about banning the weed smoking on the busses :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

.. ha,ha, it's all my foot !


the law abiding people will give up their ciggies while the other miscreants just go on blowing their stinking weed all over people just like they always have done and where ever they feel like :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :disgust:

I remember a really nice bloke around town, you never saw him without a ciggie, he'd be in the pub stamping out the stump on the floor, outside the shops in Church street, stamping out another, coming out the bookies stamping out yet another. Died in the end. Cancer of the foot!

ha,ha, trust you to come up with that one Ged ! lol !! :D :D

It was announced today that afifty quid fine will be charged for anyone caught having a sly fag in bars after the ban comes in at the end of the month. About time too!

It was announced today that afifty quid fine will be charged for anyone caught having a sly fag in bars after the ban comes in at the end of the month. About time too! Isn't £50.00 close to todays price of a pack of cigarettes in Britain?:)

The smoking ban has created new 'friendship' communities of jovial smokers who now congregate along the pavements.

These pavements now contain plumes of smoke that are difficult to avoid should you want to enter/ leave a shop etc.

:PDT_Aliboronz_24:Good way to start a day Kev, just when ive just lit up.
I will have to emigrate to Mars, cheers.

The smoking ban has created new 'friendship' communities of jovial smokers who now congregate along the pavements.

These pavements now contain plumes of smoke that are difficult to avoid should you want to enter/ leave a shop etc.

I was going to make a similar point.
You can't walk past a pub without people smoking.

What did they do in all this rain?
I wouldn't know, as I stay in then.

Some pubs like the Poets corner by us Philip, have put awnings, chairs and tables in the back yards for the smokers.

You're only round the corner from me! :PDT11
Now you mention it, that's the nearest pub to me, too.
Remember when they had the three Liverpool poets on the sign?
I found a photo the other day with the Swan Ink factory (when it was Titan) in the background.
I'll post it if I find it again!

Just been sent this email by a friend in Durham :>>>>>>>>>

Driving through the Tyne Tunnel today.....thats the vehicle tunnel, where cars and lorries and buses drive through (at rush hour make that crawl through). That's the vehicle tunnel which has bogging great ventilation systems to remove all the exhaust fumes. Thats the vehicle tunnel where you must stay in your car with the windows wound up.......

And there is a new flashing electronic sign at both ends of the tunnel telling all users that..............there is NO SMOKING allowed in the tunnel.......................how crazy is that?

Phredd

You now realise how much the bogs smell.

:PDT_Aliboronz_24:Good way to start a day Kev, just when ive just lit up.
I will have to emigrate to Mars, cheers.

Any chance of a lift Ernie?:PDT11

They got no smoking signs in the bus shelters now.You can stand outside them and inhale all the bus exhaust fumes instead as many do each day!

It actually depends on the design of the bus shelter.

The mess outside of the pubs is awful. The pavements are ankle deep in ciggie butts. It looks really scruffy.

I saw a pub with 2 outside ashtrays screwed to the walls.
Next time I passed by, the ashtrays had been pulled off the wall by vandals, and there was a ton of ash and ciggies on the floor :disgust:

I see the old regulars sitting outside to have a smoke - old people pull a stool outside to sit on. I think it looks a bit pathetic and undignified. One of the reasons why I have given up smoking - - I refuse to scuttle around looking for somewere to smoke. I'm not going to hover in doorways like some school kid wanting a smoke.
It's a ridiculous situation really.
Why oh why can't they have a seperate room in the pub for those who wish to smoke ?? Didn't they used to have rooms in the old days called 'smoking rooms?'

.. anyway, don't know what can be done to stop the pavements looking a disgrace.

It's a ridiculous situation really.
Yes, it is. People paying to destroy their health, the health of those that have to walk through the cloud of fumes to get into/out of the building, and also make a mess.

Why oh why can't they have a seperate room in the pub for those who wish to smoke ?? Didn't they used to have rooms in the old days called 'smoking rooms?'

.. anyway, don't know what can be done to stop the pavements looking a disgrace.
No public establishment should be obliged to waste a room for smokers, and have to clean it. What can be done? Fine anyone seen dropping cigarette butts on the floor. Why is it that people find dropping litter acceptable when it's a cigarette butt? Half the time there's a bin less than 20m away. It's no wonder so many people are fat when they exhibit this kind of laziness.

In short - the streets in our cities, and most of the people in them, are a mess. Unless they want to sort themselves out, it's only going to get worse.

They got no smoking signs in the bus shelters now.You can stand outside them and inhale all the bus exhaust fumes instead as many do each day!

There are some buses that are going over to electric/petro hybrids. So, breathing in bus fumes may not be an issue. Also electric trolleybuses may come in too.

Two wrongs do not make a right. because a bus is emitting fumes does not mean people need to breath in fumes from nicotine as well.

And there is a new flashing electronic sign at both ends of the tunnel telling all users that..............there is NO SMOKING allowed in the tunnel.......................how crazy is that?[/COLOR][/I]

Not crazy at all. Open flame are a fire risk. Fires in tunnels?

.. anyway, don't know what can be done to stop the pavements looking a disgrace.

Fine the pubs.

The smoking ban has created new 'friendship' communities of jovial smokers who now congregate along the pavements.


Jovial? They all look sad to me. In Chicago in the business district, there are large groups of menacing smokers on the streets at the bottom of each skyscraper block. The blocks provide bins for them to keep the streets clean. They look pathetic huddled together when it is -10C. They should all get a life.

Yes, they're very jovial, but... they create a concentrated cloud of that filth for everyone to walk through. It's disgusting. Smoking just makes a great big mess of everything. There's no excuse whatsoever, and you can't blame buses either.

We all own our own bodies so we should be able to do with it what we like as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else.
I think this no smoking ban is just another stupid law.
We got buses,lorries,cars,factories and other things that contribute to air pollution more than any smoker.
I repeat....
tests where done in a few hospitals.They found that the air inside the building was just as bad as outside due to traffic pollution.
I smoke and its my choice.I enjoy it.I also consider non-smokers when I smoke.
All this smoking ban law-who's in charge ? Who gets paid and who decides ?
Another stupid movement created by stupid people for more stupid people to follow WITH MORE STUPID IDEAS.
I agree there should be no smoking places but there also should be smoking places too.Not in the cold,not outside but inside.
These people who think they will live forever if we stamp out tobacco smoke need waking up!!!

we should be able to do with it what we like as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. We got buses,lorries,cars,factories and other things that contribute to air pollution more than any smoker.

It does hurt others though including the bar staff in smoking rooms of pubs. You can't use vehicles or factories as though it's only none smokers who use these - does that mean smokers using them are twice as bad then?

It does hurt others though including the bar staff in smoking rooms of pubs. You can't use vehicles or factories as though it's only none smokers who use these - does that mean smokers using them are twice as bad then?

Smoker always revert to this "two wrongs makes a right" theory. They tell themselves lies and believe them, the nicotine addiction is so strong in them.

It does hurt others though including the bar staff in smoking rooms of pubs. You can't use vehicles or factories as though it's only none smokers who use these - does that mean smokers using them are twice as bad then?

I smoke small cigars but try not to smoke around people who don't like it. I am not going to impose my smoke on people. I think a room full of cigarette smoke is foul. Ugh. I don't know how we put up with smoke-filled rooms for so long. :(

Chris

We all own our own bodies so we should be able to do with it what we like as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else.


Yep, so keep your toxic smoke, ash and butts to yourslef. I don't want to see or smell them.


I think this no smoking ban is just another stupid law.
We got buses,lorries,cars,factories and other things that contribute to air pollution more than any smoker.


So, the more toxic fumes the better then in your logic.


I smoke


Gosh!!! I would never have guessed. :)


and its my choice.


Well keep it to yourself then.


I enjoy it.


You do not. You have a perceived pleasure in the relief of the withdrawal symptoms of the nicotine addiction. They say there is also a perceived pleasure at the point when you stop smacking your head with hammer too.


I agree there should be no smoking places but there also should be smoking places too.

Should we have place for those jacking up on heroine as well? If cigarettes were introduced today it would be put in the same drugs category as heroine.

I think a room full of cigarette smoke is foul. Ugh. I don't know how we put up with smoke-filled rooms for so long. :(


Chris, I have never smoked and have always hated the stuff. To socialise I had to go in pubs and clubs and would hate the places after a while and in many cases leave early. Later in life I would not go into pubs - yet when in a pub I always noted that only about 10% of the pub would be smoking and the place would be like being in fog.

I hated opening the wardrobe the next morning and my suit would be stinking of smoke - horrible!!!!

In the 1st July when the smoking ban came in, I took my 5 year old girl to the local pub for a pub lunch in celebration.

Jovial? They all look sad to me. In Chicago in the business district, there are large groups of menacing smokers on the streets at the bottom of each skyscraper block. The blocks provide bins for them to keep the streets clean. They look pathetic huddled together when it is -10C. They should all get a life.

That is why I gave up - I will not be one of those people looking pathetic. So at least the smoking ban has done me a favour and helped me to quit.

It's the older people I feel sorry for - the old guys who go out for a pint and a chat - sometimes their only bit of social life - they are too old and set in their ways to go with the new trend. There is no compromise at all.
I do remember seeing some of the old style pubs with a room and a sign 'smoking room' over the door - so they must have had them then.

as for staff having to clean up a smoking room - so what ! ''tuff ----'' that goes with the job :neutral: - cleaning up spilled ale and emptying ashtrays ( that what bar staff do ) - - there are many cleaners who have to clean up a lot worse than that in their daily job. if your little tummy can't stand it - then don't go for the job :angry:

.. but the anti-smokers are not content with people being forced outdoors - - they are now moaning about having to walk through smoke on the outside of buildings :rolleyes:

They said there would be no smoking in public places. Where is more public than the pavement? :smoke:

Fine the pubs.

The pubs will have to make sure to sweep up their steps every day ...... but they don't ! :002:

It does hurt others though including the bar staff in smoking rooms of pubs. You can't use vehicles or factories as though it's only none smokers who use these - does that mean smokers using them are twice as bad then?

Ged, I hate to disagree with you :PDT_Aliboronz_11:

.. but as I have said - what do people expect if they go to work in a pub or a betting shop ??? .... little bunches of sweet smelling daisies ??? :rolleyes:

pubs mean one thing: the stink of booze, spilled ale, spew in the toilets, etc,
don't go for the job if you can't cut it.

I've said this 100 times too - - WHY don't the government just cease all production and sale of tobacco products ???

If it is so bad then just stop it dead. Stop making and selling the bladdy stuff !! and it might shut the whingers up.


Look !

anyone in the right mind wouldn't say that smoking is good for you - I would not try to defend smoking in that way, and of course I encourage my son never to start it.
I don't like the stink of too much smoke myself !

- but the constant whining from anti-smokers just riles me. They are just as pathetic as those people huddled oudoors - they are pathetic with their holier than thou attitude. It does my head in. :angry:

I gave up 10 months ago - but I don't mind if my dad comes to visit and has a ciggie and a chat, I don't mind anyone smoking within reason - and by that I mean you don't want smoke in a lift or a phone box - you know - common sense, and obviously you don't smoke where someone is eating. Common sense! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I've said this 100 times too - - WHY don't the government just cease all production and sale of tobacco products ???

If it is so bad then just stop it dead. Stop making and selling the bladdy stuff !!

Yes but they make a lot of money by taxing tobacco and booze, don't they? :PDT_Xtremez_42:

Because it makes too much money lindylou...

It's the older people I feel sorry for - the old guys who go out for a pint and a chat - sometimes their only bit of social life - they are too old and set in their ways to go with the new trend.


At any one time about 70% of smokers are trying to give up. This ban will give them the push - as it did with you Linylou.


There is no compromise at all.
I do remember seeing some of the old style pubs with a room and a sign 'smoking room' over the door - so they must have had them then.


In Victorian times smoking was only allowed in Smoking rooms. We went backwards.

I've said this 100 times too - - WHY don't the government just cease all production and sale of tobacco products ???


Because it would be pushed in to the hands of the drugs barons. Look what happened in the USA with prohibition. It created the mafia.

It must be phased out and the first move is make it socially unacceptable an ban from public places.

anyone got a spare bifta :)

anyone got a spare bifta :)

Erm ???
Is a Bifta anything like a Bafta ??
Phredd :slywink:

Erm ???
Is a Bifta anything like a Bafta ??
Phredd :slywink:

No bifter is a ciggie
I got larry and barry's (Lambert & butler)if any good to ya or
can get you bangin headaches(benson & hedges).:handclap:

Ged, I hate to disagree with you :PDT_Aliboronz_11:

.. but as I have said - what do people expect if they go to work in a pub or a betting shop ??? .... little bunches of sweet smelling daisies ??? :rolleyes:

pubs mean one thing: the stink of booze, spilled ale, spew in the toilets, etc,
don't go for the job if you can't cut it.

You are quite entitled to disagree with me LindyLou and I think no less of you because of it ;)

However, people should expect a safe and hygenic envirnoment. Just because in the past, this was overlooked and not taken into account does not mean it was right. We once had the ducking stool and stocks too but eventually things are found to be medieval. Things like inflicting toxic substances upon people because it became common practice for them to have to just shut up and bear it or not bother applying for those jobs didn't make it correct though.

It's like saying to the bloke who falls off a crane or scaffolding, well you knew it was going to be high up and there was a risk. All aspects of H&S have to accounted for. Personally, it never ever bothered me because my own little group of people never smoked so we'd stand well away from the bloke or woman who was blissfully unaware that whilst they looked one way, daydreaming into thin air, they were in fact pointing their ciggie in my direction where the smoke merrily drifted well away from them but to us. You only had to look at shafts of light coming through the curtains when they closed them for matchday screenings and you'd see swirls of greyish blue smoke and sometimes you would have to catch your breath.

I'd say especially where food is concerned, it was correct to abolish it. I've always said that the residue of my pleasure is wee wee so if anyone should impose their residue of their pleasure on me would they like some of mine in return ;)

well, if you put it like that Ged - I cannot argue and you made me laugh. :D

Ged's last point is very true though. Smoking has survived simply down to how integrated it has become in society.

EDIT: And besides, wee wee is sterile, and hence less harmful than the smoke!!

It would be nice to think that one day in the future, smoking will be non existant and something from the days of old ( like taking snuff). :)

but I wonder if it will ever become a reality, because you see just as many youngsters taking up smoking at an early age. Also, there will be still be other countries where there's a smoking culture. It will be a hell of a long time before it disappears forever - if at all.

It would be nice to think that one day in the future, smoking will be non existant and something from the days of old ( like taking snuff). :)

but I wonder if it will ever become a reality, because you see just as many youngsters taking up smoking at an early age. Also, there will be still be other countries where there's a smoking culture. It will be a hell of a long time before it disappears forever - if at all.

It can disappear in a generation. Look at California. Few people smoke there now to what they did 30 years ago. See how it is 30 years after the laws came in.

I can't see how anyone in their right mind would start in the first place. Horrible tasting and smelly stuff.

I think a lot (if not all) of smokers take it up at a younger age. Whether it be peer pressure, their heroes smoking on TV or in music or just trying to be 'cool.'

I think a lot (if not all) of smokers take it up at a younger age. Whether it be peer pressure, their heroes smoking on TV or in music or just trying to be 'cool.'

Apart from old films, where do you see people smoke on TV? More like peer pressure than anything else.

But you still have to get over the taste and smell of the stuff first.

Try soap operas. Deidre & Liz are never seen without ciggies in their gobs...

Try soap operas. Deidre & Liz are never seen without ciggies in their gobs...
Soap operas are a bigger waste of time and money than smoking...

They are, but many watch them and are easily influenced.

Soap operas are a bigger waste of time and money than smoking...

ha,ha, well said :handclap:

Are they goin' to stop all the scallies smokin' dope on the number 10 bus? :rolleyes:

They havent on the 60 bus. I was on the other day and it stunk, the driver did go upstairs to tell them to pack it in but I think they carried on because the smell got worse. I think the driver would probably have been stoned by the time he got to Bootle. And I don't mean he had bricks thrown at him.

They are, but many watch them and are easily influenced.

More likely to make women quit because they might think they quit thinking that they will end up looking like Diedre and liz.:shock:

No. The simple truth is that most people don't think long term. Hence widespread debt and obesity.

Smokers have never given me any consideration over the last 30 odd years...so they get none from me now.
It's as simple as that!:unibrow:

They havent on the 60 bus. I was on the other day and it stunk, the driver did go upstairs to tell them to pack it in but I think they carried on because the smell got worse. I think the driver would probably have been stoned by the time he got to Bootle. And I don't mean he had bricks thrown at him.

Exactly ! this is what I have always said all along; as usual the decent people will abide by the rules and refrain from smoking, but who or what is going to stop the scallies on the busses ?

Smokers have never given me any consideration over the last 30 odd years...so they get none from me now.
It's as simple as that!:unibrow:

I take offence to that as I have never imposed my smoking on anyone. I am a stickler for condideration for others in all aspects and not just the smoking issue.
I would not smoke where people are eating, and I wouldn't smoke in a confined space, nor would I smoke where there are children. If a rule says 'No Smoking' - then I wouldn't.

:PDT_Aliboronz_24:Good on you Lindy, I smoke, and also go by the rules,
the smug g.ts who whinge all the time are probely worse in their own habits.

I hate it when people stick their heads in my smoke :)

10A bus reeked of dope today:disgust:

I take offence to that as I have never imposed my smoking on anyone. I am a stickler for condideration for others in all aspects and not just the smoking issue.
I would not smoke where people are eating, and I wouldn't smoke in a confined space, nor would I smoke where there are children. If a rule says 'No Smoking' - then I wouldn't.

I agree I never found it difficult to not smoke in front of kids, people eating, or as a rule in a building or public place.

Not all smokers are inconsiderate.

I take offence to that as I have never imposed my smoking on anyone. I am a stickler for condideration for others in all aspects and not just the smoking issue.
I would not smoke where people are eating, and I wouldn't smoke in a confined space, nor would I smoke where there are children. If a rule says 'No Smoking' - then I wouldn't.

Same here....
Well said.:PDT_Aliboronz_24:

I take offence to that as I have never imposed my smoking on anyone. I am a stickler for condideration for others in all aspects and not just the smoking issue.
I would not smoke where people are eating, and I wouldn't smoke in a confined space, nor would I smoke where there are children. If a rule says 'No Smoking' - then I wouldn't.


If ALL smokers where following your example there wouldn't be a smoking ban, because there wouldn't be a need for one.
So blame inconsiderate smokers for the ban and not (Whinging g**ts...Thanks Ernie).
And I suppose ALL of smokers cigarette butts go straight in the bin too!

If ALL smokers where following your example there wouldn't be a smoking ban, because there wouldn't be a need for one.

It would also mean people would not be smoking in public places. And as many smokers are the most inconsiderate people known, that would never happen, so a ban has to be imposed.

A group of pensioners in a sheltered housing scheme is fighting a ban in the communal room of their complex. I can see why CDS Housing are saying its a public area, but when even the non smokers are calling for it to be lifted,then perhaps common sense should prevail.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/7135973.stm

By the way I am a non smoker who detests the habit and wont even let my own wife smoke in the house beacause of our son.

I saw that on the news.

The pensioners have smoked many years and one of the men said why don't they let us live out our lives in peace. I can see his point.

The communal room now lies empty and the pensioners are not socialising.
I was told this a while back by someone who works in a care home.


On the same subject, I was talking to an elderly neighbour who has gone to our local pubs for as long as we can remember - she is the life and soul of the party as the saying goes, and loves her social life. But she was telling me that the pubs just aren't the same now - half empty since the smoking ban - and she says that, as a non smoker, she gets left sitting on her own while the smokers stand outside together. She says a lot of people are now keeping out of the pubs.

I saw that on the news.

The pensioners have smoked many years and one of the men said why don't they let us live out our lives in peace. I can see his point.


I can't. I took my 5 year old girl to a French cafe in London yesterday. This place always had a nicotine smell about it. This was etched in my memory. The difference was superb. Nice an fresh and repainted and no brown stains on the ceilings and walls.

The smoking ban makes a lot of people buck this appalling addition too.

Smoking has been banned to great acclaim. It is a dead issue, why do people keep carping on about it?

Smoking has been banned to great acclaim. It is a dead issue, why do people keep carping on about it?[/QUOTE]

I agree, I go to lots of pubs all around the city centre on a regular basis...I've not noticed any drop in attendance...quite the contrary.

I still can't get used to the difference (for the better).

When I said I could see their point, I mean about the pensioners saying why are they not left alone to live out the rest of their life without being nagged and hassled. I feel sympathy with them in that respect.

I agree that the subject is now old hat.

I can't. I took my 5 year old girl to a French cafe in London yesterday. This place always had a nicotine smell about it. This was etched in my memory. The difference was superb. Nice an fresh and repainted and no brown stains on the ceilings and walls.

The smoking ban makes a lot of people buck this appalling addition too.

Smoking has been banned to great acclaim. It is a dead issue, why do people keep carping on about it?

Not to continue an argument , and just tongue in cheek here - - but I was listening on the radio to someone talking about the smoking ban having little effect in Europe. The person was saying how in France everyone and his dog smokes.
and in Spain the Spanish have put two fingers up to the ban.

The French and the Spaniards love their ciggies :D


you won't believe this - but I can remember a night school Spanish teacher from northern Spain smoking in class :shock: - this was back in the 1980s, and I remember the teacher telling us that the Spanish were great smokers.

.. but someone lighting up in a classroom would be unthinkable now. (mind you the teacher did have just the one ciggie and with the window open !).

The last I heard was that the teacher did actually give up smoking in the end though. :)

Not to continue an argument , and just tongue in cheek here - - but I was listening on the radio to someone talking about the smoking ban having little effect in Europe. The person was saying how in France everyone and his dog smokes.
and in Spain the Spanish have put two fingers up to the ban.

The French and the Spaniards love their ciggies :D


you won't believe this - but I can remember a night school Spanish teacher from northern Spain smoking in class :shock: - this was back in the 1980s, and I remember the teacher telling us that the Spanish were great smokers.

.. but someone lighting up in a classroom would be unthinkable now. (mind you the teacher did have just the one ciggie and with the window open !).

The last I heard was that the teacher did actually give up smoking in the end though. :)


I remember when I first started at Psygnosis back in '94, you were allowed to smoke in the building and at your desk should you wished!

Not to continue an argument , and just tongue in cheek here - - but I was listening on the radio to someone talking about the smoking ban having little effect in Europe. The person was saying how in France everyone and his dog smokes.
and in Spain the Spanish have put two fingers up to the ban.


In France the ban is largely upheld. A few prosecutions of smokers and cafe owners will soon stop those who ignore it. We are different to the Spanish and the ban will rarely be ignored here. In 10 to 20 years time someone smoking in public may give the same reaction to seeing someone injecting themselves with a needle in public.

I recall in Spain that when they put in parking meters they all smashed them. They don't now.

I remember when I first started at Psygnosis back in '94, you were allowed to smoke in the building and at your desk should you wished!

Yeah...The old Albany building...It was like a Victorian prison inside...Supposed to be haunted too!

It must be a lot better now though.