Smoking Ban..how its going so far...

Spain Smoking Ban the first day....

So yesterday saw the start of the strict new smoking ban in Spain, now this might not sound like such a big thing...but when you consider that the vast majority of Spanish smoke and up until just a few years ago they were allowed to smoke just about anywhere..in banks, offices, shops ..pretty much anywhere they wanted, then this is a giant step for them.

 

The Spanish lifestyle is a very sociable one, where a coffee, breakfast, elevensies, lunch, tea break or dinner is more often than not taken in a bar, and that is associated with "having a fag!". 

So how will they take to not being able to have their ritual smoke with their coffee...?

Quotes I have heard.."I won´t be going out to any bars anymore" "I will have my coffee at home before I go to work" "I won´t  be lunching in a bar anymore!" "I spend 30 minutes over my morning coffee!" this last comment, I actually decided to answer back.."can you not go 30 minutes without a smoke?, take one before going in and one when you leave!" the reply was.."yeah right, walk along the street puffing like an idiot to finish it before arriving!" I decided this was a discussion I was not going to win!

 

So does all this mean that the bars and restaurants are going to all close, or will the desire to sit and chat over coffee or lunch win over the fact of having to walk out into the street for the cigarette? 

What happened this weekend... I was with a group of Spanish friends all weekend for the New Years celebrations, we went to the bar on Friday and Saturday, but on Sunday they decided they didn´t want to go! Now the bar has a terrace, so we could easily have sat outside (the temperature was lovely) but no, they were not allowed to smoke in the bar so they preferred to stay at the house we had rented for their elevensies.

 

I passed the bar later on the way home and the terrace was full. So it appears not all think that way!

When I got back home, I popped into my local, where the owners are the worst offenders of smoking..behind the bar, in the kitchen..every 5 minutes! So I found it very pleasing to find them all stood out on the pavement when I arrived...the only problem...I was alone in the bar with no one to serve me! but hey, I could breathe cleanly!

 

The bar had signs of having been busy..the tables were all to be cleaned and there were people in the restaurant side too. I saw several people leave the restaurant, pop outside for a quick puff, then head back.

So my group of friends, were they being pig headed, was it "group pressure" as they were in the majority and could make a first stand against the law?

 

There is bound to be a drop in business for the smaller "local" bars, the ones who have the old men and ladies who come in everyday for their game of cards, ludo or dominoes surrounded in a cloud of smoke, can´t very well see them adapting, after years of the same ritual. Where will they go? What will they do?

 

So what will the bars do to tempt the people to come out...?

 

on the news yesterday I saw that lots are buying street heaters to help make the smokers more comfortable when they  sit on the terraces...now this has offended me as a non smoker, if I didn´t want to go into a bar because of the smoke, I would sit on the terrace...in the cold!... I feel discriminated against, the owners didn´t care about me not wanting to be in a smoking environment, but they care about the smokers not being in a smoke free one! (guess who are their bread winners!)

 

Only time will tell, but I can see it working..eventually. I had my doubts, but yesterday helped change my mind. Good luck to the smaller bars and I hope they ride out the harder times that are bound to happen to start with.