smoking ban

As a matter of interest, is smoking banned in children's playgounds in the UK? I don't remember ever hearing of it - but then again I doubt that addicted smokers would observe it any more than the death-wish fools who light up outside hospital entrances, ignoring signs saying smoking is banned anywhere in the hospital grounds (some of them, unbelievably, in-patients in dressing gowns with breathing problems). It's a disgrace that outpatients have to walk through a haze of smoke just to get into my local hospital. Help, I feel another Grumpy Gran rant coming on...

'Paramentos' is adornings or hangings & in architectural terms the facings or facade of a building. Yes it's possible that it could be taken to mean the canvas sides as the spanish love of using words that have nothing to do with what it actually is , is quite common.

I would think it would take a court case to detemine it.

The people responsible for impementing & policing the new law are the policia local & the ministery of health through environmental health officials. If they say these things are ok  & comply ,then they are.

Yes 29/30% of spaniards smoke , as a % of the whole population; but around here the bars / restaurants are populated by a majority of smokers, it's not a tourist area . It averages around 75/80% & I've been watching & counting since the 1st restrictions came in .

1st thing in the mornings it's in excess of 90%. ( Or was )

Floellas quite right in that here in Lorca the bars in the town centre , with no outside space , are as dead as doornails & the ones with ouside space are not as busy as before. In addition  the staff are complaining as they have extra work to do as everyone is outside,resulting in more walking ,carrying & fetching , cleaning up , etc; plus the owners have additional expense in supplying patio-heaters ( an utterly useless piece of equipment that should have been banned from sale years ago & adding to global warming ) plus now they want the TV's outside . The owners can't employ more staff as they've not got additional trade. One thing I've found around here is that once the spaniards say that they are not doing something , that's it they don't do it & stick to their guns. It might result in their friends, neighbours or family going out of business but they'll stick to it to prove their point !

The same complaints are being brought up in Andalucia  & elswhere & the Valencians are organising a petition for the government to debate the issue. The better weather is  going to bring an improvement in trade in some tourist  areas but not around here or in many small pueblos across spain where the bars are suffering the backlash of this new law.

Donna , if the smokers all lived another 5 years they 'd have to put up the retirement age again so you'd be working longer & as their are already too many people living in the UK & their were too many living their 30 years ago what's the answer ? Culling, sounds good to me. You can't start with the smokers as they contribute £12 billion pounds to the uk economy & if that stops the income tax would have to go up by £ 374 for every living person ; which in reality is more like £800-1000 as less than 50% of the Population work ! Take out the smokers ( 16+ million) & it would have to rise by even more.

Personally, it doesn't really bother me but I feel sorry for the bar & restaurant owners who are paying out large sums of money in rent ,& rates whilst having the largest proportion of their customers standing outside with hardly anyone inside !

It's quite likely at the next elections here when Mr Bean is booted out that the incoming party will overturn this law , like the dutch & belgians have just done, a go back to smoking & non-smoking bars.

"Personally, it doesn't really bother me"   Really - GUSLOPEZ ?  

For someone not bothered you have done a heck of a lot of research, made more postings than most and posted longer replies than most..  Seems to me like it bothers you a great deal.

Non smokers have an absolute right to clean fresh unpolluted air.  Smokers have no rights to ruin the healtgh of others. There can be no question of that.

Cars do not come into the equasion, as they are now a very neccessary evil, (how would you get your ciggys delivered without the combustion engine?) but at least research is being done to improve emissions, or eliminate them alltogether.  If this were done with ciggarettes, so they had no harmfull effects and no smell, people could smoke anywhere, anyplace, anytime.

At this moment in time my family is going through the agony of watching a bright and beautifull family member, 45 and mother of  young twins slowly dying from throat cancer.  She has never smoked in her life, but was raised in a smokers home, and went on to work in a smoky environment.  She, her children and her husband are paying the ultimate price for the selfishness of others.  If ths law fails it will be a tragedy.  I once saw a news item on TV where infant school children had swabs taken They were able to detect those that came from homes where the parents smoked. Some of   these children had a nicotine level in their saliva equal to having smoked 5 cigarrettes a day.

"Personally, it doesn't really bother me"   Really - GUSLOPEZ ?  

For someone not bothered you have done a heck of a lot of research, made more postings than most and posted longer replies than most..  Seems to me like it bothers you a great deal.

It's not  'research'  , it's knowing what the people get up to that we've voted in & should be done by all members of the population . It's general knowledge ! Then the fact that fuel duty is near 80% in the UK ,or tobacco tax is around  £5 on each packet or the fact that there's no such thing as national insurance cont. anymore ,it just goes in a general pot & in no way entitles you to any healthcare  & is not ring-fenced for pensions, wouldn't come as such a surprise to many members of the general public.

 Hola folks when im out and about ..yes its realy happening "THE BAN HAS HAPPENED"

Yes it seems to be working like it or not.

I mean its all been said on this thread i keep reading repeats... i do read most posts  i suppose a lot dont... judging by this thread.

Jeanie 

I've avoided getting drawn into this and other similar discussions, in fact, I haven't even bothered following them, because there's quite enough about the subject every time you pop into a cafe here. Probably every conceivable opinion has been expressed and hotly debated so there's little to add really. However, I was out last night (rare event these days) and must say how pleasant it was to sit in the bar I usually go to without my eyes stinging from smoke. It was also a little surreal to be literally the only person in there. Even the owner was outside smoking, and only popped in to serve me! Needless to say, I only had the one and left, bored out of my mind. Also very nice to come home and not have to put my clothes out to air - but very strange nevertheless.

Just quickly browsing a few of the posts here, I notice someone mentioned about increased life expectancy if people could quit smoking, which is a nice thought, but the global population has doubled since 1960 (never happened so quickly before) and will probably hit 9 billion by 2045, and with an increasing middle class in developing countries wanting to emulate their Western counterparts' lifestyles, the planet probably doesn't have the resources to support so many people. If we keep on finding ways to make us live longer, eventually we'll end up killing each other and eating one another anyway. Just an alternative line of discussion for you over coffee tomorrow!

No wonder you are the only one in your local with an outlook on life like that

Thanks for ruining my weekend

StanMiguel

Roberto,

If you really find it 'pleasant' to sit alone in a bar geting bored out of your mind, I'd suggest you may need some help.

Where will you go to be alone when the bars close down, as many will obviously to your great satisfaction.

Give the new laws 1 season and Spain will start looking at what is now happening in The Netherlands, Germany and Greece.

Stan  welcome to EOS, love the name!

Elcantal, welcome also. Not too sure whether you didn't get my sarcasm, or I didn't get yours?

Talking to the couple who own the bar that I go to here, they say it's business as normal, it's just that everyone now sits outside...and she hasn't got enough space and tables for everyone, so half of them just end up standing!

I never hear anyone moaning about the new law, there is more moaning about it on the forum here than in the bars!

It really doesn't seem to be an issue for people, most seem happy to smoke outside.

Justin

I was in Ireland the week they introduced the ban, I was in Scotland and England on the very days the ban was implemented, almost without exception there was total compliance.

I did have a sneaking suspicion that all would not go as smothly in Spain ( especially in light of some other european countries back pedaling )  but I have to report that except for one or two maverick restaurant owners in Marbella, it seems at least in our area, to have become adopted without a great deal of fuss

Smoker or non smoker, we all know it makes sense, it is so much nicer now.

s

So what's the point of owning a bar , paying rent ,rates , etc & the majority of your customers are outside ! The one I always use on a sunday had 1 person in it & 23 on the outside terrace where , normally, the only ones who use it are foreigners. ( & you have to take the tables & chairs out yourself ) This morning my usual was as dead as a doornail again.

I really don't see why we are all still talking about this new Smoking Ban in Spain!

It's happened!

It's a done deal!

Whether we like it (I do) or not!

Everyone so far seems to be abiding by the law, with some variance as to the meaning of the law when it comes to enclosed outside spaces.

The only thing we can truly speculate is what will happen during the summer when holiday makers come over and now find that they can't smoke indoors here in Spain.

Methinks they won't care, as they will want to be sat outside in the sun in any case!

Having just come back from a long week-end in  Spain all I can say is that  it is wonderful that there is a smoking ban although most people now sit outside .  What the effect of that will be in the summer I do not know as it might be worse for us non smokers.

I wsh Gibraltar would do the same .

Yesterday we took our dog for a long walk, and we ended up having a drink in one of the bars in our barrio on the way home.  It was a small bar, with 8 people drinking inside, and only the two of us (plus dog) sitting outside.  We don't smoke, however as we can't take our dog into the bar we took advantage of the table and chairs outside - clearly for the use of smokers, as we haven't seen a table there in the past!  We noticed one man finishing his cigarette before entering the bar - presumably he would have taken it inside last year.  There was a petition on the bar re: the smoking ban, which had been signed by 8 people (don't know whether it was the same ones who were having a drink while we were there).

Sue

Hate smoking and the smoker it self

......is there only one left then?

Now now Goodstich,

I think that 'Shoemaker' in Spanish means 'Zapatero'.

Still, I suppose that being hated is better than being ignored!

I smoke; have done for 50 years. Wish I'd never started but there you are.

On the other hand I respect non-smokers and the law; even if I don't altogether agree with it.

I don't think I deserve to be hated or ostracised. Neither do I think I should be villified because I smoke; particularly as the 'evidence' put forward on the subject of 'passive smoking' is flimsy to say the least. Just Google it and read.

There used to be freedom of choice; smoking bars and non-smoking bars. Nobody put a gun to the head to use a smoking bar.

Having lost both parents from the long term effects of smoking I keep wondering why people continue to defend any form of passive or active smoking. I also smoked for 10 years plus, but as an ex-smoker I am probably more passionate about this than many.

I also have no problem with smokers; just do it in your own space and don't infect the rest of us. Also being an ex-smoker I class the general atmosphere as being public air, and not available to smokers!