Smoking in Spanish restaurants

Cigarette smoke is a big concern for me healthwise as I am a mild asthmatic and it is a very real problem in Spanish cafes. I had heard that smoking was actually sort of banned in public places in Spain - or at least a non smoking area would be a possibility but this is not my experience.  

We have our apartment in the Northern part of the Costa Blanca with easy access to Altea,Moraira,Calpe,Javea etc.Is anyone aware of any non smoking cafes because unless the weather is good enough to sit outside it is a real problem finding somewhere smoke free to just sit and enjoy a coffee. 

Does anyone know if any  changes in the law are likely to be forthecoming ?

Thank you

Hi Gillian

I know exactly what you mean. I find cigarette smoke smell repulsive, it's sweet & sickly & I feel nauseous if subjected to it. Neither my husband nor I smoke though he had done till around 5 years ago & now he hates it more than I do. I tell him 'now you know how I felt for so long !'

Where we are outside Guardamar, around an hour south of you, there were many cafes/restaurants change to comply with the law, which I think was January 2007 (someone will correct me if I've got the wrong year) & it was wonderful to return to a restaurant where previously the smoke had annoyed us to the point where we had not returned. However, it would seem that many restaurants lost money as they've since changed back to allow smoking.  We found this out when we arranged to go with friends to a nearby restaurant, which is a large place with different areas. We had just been served our 1st course when a person lit up at the next table ! So, as one of our friends smoked, she decided why shouldn't she have a smoke.  This particular restaurant could easily separate smokers from non smokers, wish they would. They have the room.

When we went to a local Chinese restaurant in Guardamar we saw no smoking signs up everywhere, almost an overkill. We went with our friends (same ones) &, at that time, both smoked (the husband has since had a heart attack & gave it up on his doctor's orders). As there were only a few tables occupied the lady owner said we could sit on the opposite side of the room & smoke !! I was furious.

Without losing valuable friendships it's difficult to let friends know just how you feel about them smoking by you. Before we bought in Spain none of our friends smoked. Now we seem to be accumulating friends who do. When we have friends who smoke to our home in Spain in the winter months they are in/out/in/out all the time as we would never permit smoking in our homes. It makes for an interrupted visit. (Try keeping heat in the place with doors opening/closing so much too).

We heard too that because a lot of restaurants/cafes are not complying with the law Valencian government are withholding huge sums from the health dept for our area. This is not acceptable in my mind.

All restuarants should have separate areas for non smokers.  Even if you don't smoke but breathe in the smoke (2nd hand smoking),  is just as bad. I'm  very surprised when I found a lot of smokers in the streets of Alicante city as I thought Spain is supposed to be a healthy country. My sister died of lung cancer through 2nd hand smoking as her son lived with her & he is a heavy smoker.

I don't know why people enjoy smoking as I'm sure these smokers know that smoking is bad for health & I'm sure they can't say that smoking will relief their stress. There 's a better & healthier way to relief stress, certainly not smoking.

In Canada, smoking is banned in many public places & I like it this way as the air is healthier for a lot of people. In our TV health program, these specialists/doctors even talked about 3rd hand smoking ie the cigarettes smell left by the smokers in the furniture,  clothing. etc can  be bad for  us too.

I hope Spain will have stricter control,  banning smoking in public places. Same thing in UK when I was walking in Oxford Street, I found it unbearable to breathe in the smoke.

 The smoking in bars and restaurants is a real problem for me, I detest it and really puts me off going into places as I get really edgy as I can't enjoy my food with the smell etc. I wish that they would ban it entirely but I doubt that they will in the near future. 

Susan

We also hate people who smoke in public places. We won't go in a place if there is smoking allowed.

Some smokers are so inconsiderate and think its their right and don't think of the harm they are doing to others. Its up to them what harm they do to them selves.

A few years ago even if you went into the bank in Spain - staff would be smoking!

We think it should be banned in all public places as in the UK - its nice to go out for a meal and not have to come home - put all your clothes in the wash and shower and wash your hair before you go to bed!!

Amazing that every chat forum eventually gets around to discussing this subject and it generates more animosity and ill-feeling than any other thread topic going.

Unfortunately, I am a smoker (shock -  horror - gasps all round) BUT I'm not a paedophile, serial killer, mugger or even had an asbo against me (certainly didn't get anyone pregnant when I was 13) but am talked about as if I am the number 1 criminal in the entire world.  I do, however, abhor those who think smoking in restaurants is a good idea.  I can't see the problem that people are having as most restaurants I use are either non-smoking or have a separate room for smokers (which I avoid and always use the non-smoking bit out of deference to my non-smoking wife).  The Banana Tree in Quesada, Laurel & Hardys restaurant and most other restaurants are totally non-smoking.  Chinese in El Galan with a separate (totally partitioned room with excellent air extractors) room for smokers are just some examples.  IMO, it is mostly the "Spanish" restaurants which still allow smoking which is a shame.  One, in Playa Flamenca, has the non-smoking bit outside and the smoking bit inside (where all the food comes from) as the staff appear the biggest smokers.

However, on the pub front, it would appear that all those non-smokers who vowed to use them more if smoking was banned were actually lying.  4 pubs a day closing in UK because of a lack of customers!  One great way to get pubs to close is to ban 75% of their clientele.  Then again, this is part of the UK joined-up method of government.  I feel it my beholden duty to ensure these parts of our country's great heritage survives so I use the pubs (even if it means standing in the pouring rain or freezing my butt off in the garden) and really enjoy the freedom offered by Spanish bars to enjoy my wicked weed.  I do, however, promise not to blow the smoke in your direction provided you don't puff your pious platitudes about the evil weed all over me.  I really feel as if I need to change my clothes and have a shower with all the moral, outraged guff emanating from the non-smokers and, horror of horrors, that really public enemy Number 1........the one who has given them up.  There is nothing more moral than a reformed whore.

So, until they actually make the dreaded tobacco illegal (and instead of government advisers, psychologists and general do-gooders spouting off about downgrading cannabis and saying Ecstasy tablets are harmless - remember that they are illegal) I will continue to puff on good old Nick O'Teene whilst pumping enough of my hard earned money into taxes which keeps your lot down.  Oh, and before the old, tired argument of how much it costs the NHS, smokers pump billions more of their tax money into the economy than it costs the NHS to treat them.  Again, the pious amongst you should reflect that alcohol related problems now cost the NHS more than smokers do so remember that next time you pick up that cheap bottle of vodka from the supermarket or insist that "just one more glass of wine won't hurt you".  Also, I'll probably die a lot younger than all you goody-goodies (sorry, you reformed smokers, but you've already done the damage so you'll go at the same time as me) which means I won't cost the pension industry anywhere near as much as you lot living to your nineties and beyond.  Yes, I do know that smoking will cut about 7 years off my life but those years are at the end of my life and they're pretty garbage, anyway.

I want to close pubs --- so I ban the majority of their customers from enjoying them.
I want our citizens to become obese --- so I tell the pubs to become Restaurants to survive..
I want a drinking epidemic --- so I force up prices and ensure that all those not welcome at their pub would discover the economics of buying in the supermarket.
I am a success.
I have stuffed the working class but you must trust me, this recession has nothing to do with me ----Your redundancy has nothing to do with my policies and I along with my party members will hold our heads high as we receive pensions that you can only dream of.

Well said Bobaol  and if smoking was not proved to be injurious to the health and a real and major concern for non-smokers, I would have to agree with all of what you say.

Yes, I am one of those you call 'Public enemy No.1' ,  and as an ex-smoker and to my total amazement,  I now cannot stand the smell of tobacco smoke. My father who was 75 years old when he gave up smoking (after a bout of bronchitis) was the same. After he gave up, he   asked  me to go outside to smoke and he avoided areas of his 'local' where the smokers sat (and suffered a lot of ribbing from them because of it).  At the time I accused him of hypocrisy. Now  I know exactly how he felt.

I avoid anywhere that I might come into contact with smokers and embrace those where I do not. I do not complain and moan. I get up and leave - quietly,  without making a fuss. After all the proprietor has a living to make and it is up to him how he does it.

None  of the snide comments , faux coughing and waving of arms to clear the sometimes non-existant fug, were instrumental in my decision to stop smoking and, I'm quite sure, they make no impression on other smokers, except to alienate them.  The people who do that annoyed me when I smoked and they still do. I stopped because it was becoming too expensive to fund my habit not because of anything they said or did.

I cannot explain all of the reasons for my intolerance to tobacco smoke but I do know that, deep down, I am afraid of starting again. It would be so easy, and now that my sense of smell has improved, I know just how much tobacco smoke (fresh or stale) stinks. I would not want it on my hair and clothes and certainly not in my home ever again. 

bobaol,

Pubs aren't closing because of the smoking ban some may be but it is mostly down to the economy and the taxes that the uk goverment keep on piling on to the drinks trade also with supermarkets seling 8 cans of beer for £4 doesnt help and then you gaet the special offers from the supermarkets of 24 cans for a tenner.

I don't smoke by the way

i think if it was just the smell of fags that offended people, then perhaps it would still be tolerated to some degree in public, though not like it was a few years ago. If i'm honest, I do miss the smell of cigars and the odd pipe in a country pub around xmas. What I and most others I think? object to so strongly as a non-smoker, is the horrendous effect it can have (1st or 2nd hand) on health. Now we know just how harmful it is, i'm suprised there isn't a total ban in all public places inside or out?  Comparing it to alchohol is just avoiding reality.. Drinking in moderation is harmless to yourself and not unpleasent to those around you. Smoking in moderation is both harmful and unpleasent to those around you.

I don't feel it's just smokers that should be targeted, surely any form of pollution, (internal combustion engines for instance) that are proved to cause huge health issues should also be banned, however much tax they provide!. Smokers are indeed an easy target, but we have to do what we can.

Those of you that believe smoking bans in the UK have not been instramental in the closure of  many local pubs and the loss of jobs probably are not patrons of their local in the first place.

You only have to look at the plight of the bingo halls in the UK and the loss of jobs in that industry to know that the anti smoking law is one of the main elements to these closures. On line bingo is all about a business model brought about by the smoking ban.

In Spain bars below 100 sq mts can chose to be smoking or non smoking and most have chosen the former. Why would they do that if  not because they believe they will go out of business if they chose the latter.

Due to the economic climate the Brits, Irish and other Northern Europeans are leaving which means that many coastal bars and restaurants are closing now , and if those of you wanting a total smoking ban have your way you will just accelerate the process.

 My thoughts on this are the fact that you can have a choice in Spain if you so wish.

As a smoker,when i want to go to a bar and smoke i go to a Smoking bar,when i have children with with me or non smokers i go to a non smoking bar.

There are plenty to chooose from and it usually displays which denomination it is on the door before you go in,again,you can make a choice.

On a trip to the UK and a night out with some friends last year i found it so strange to go to a pub with 4 friends (3 smokers),walk in,order 4 pints,leave them on the bar and the go straight back outside in the street for a fag, one firend who didn't smoke even came outside with us as he didn;t want to stand in the pub like "Billy no mates".

Later in a club, if you wanted a ciggy you had to go onto a roof terrace,again leaving your drink inside and stand in the rain, not much fun really and unless you came equipped with sticky name tags, had to play the fun game of "who's pint is who;s" on the way back in.

I went to Milton Keynes shopping centre and when i went for a ciggy outside was told to "step away from the building" by a security guard, surely the chances of a concrete shopping centre being offended or contaminated by me are quite slim. espcially when iam outside!!!!

The point i am trying to make is that i don't want the UK's rules here, i want a choice,Spain gives me a choice,thats why i live here.

I respect people who don't want to sit in a smoky bar the same as i hope people respect my freedom of choice if i wish to.

On Alchohol, i would be interested to see how many people are killed or die each year from alcohol related incidents,i don't think as yet anyone has stabbed anyone in the street caused by having too many Marlboro lights on a night out, and how many times have you felt threatened by someone walking towards you after midnight in a town centre after 10 benson and hedges!!

Right thats it, i'm convinced ban drinking in Pubs as well!!!

georgia

so, in a pub or club, rather than stand outside you would prefer to give other people lung cancer would you?  Or are saying anyone who doesn't want the risk of lung cancer shouldn't go to that pub or club?  As soon as you smoke in any public place you take away the right to health of all others. Is that fair?

Yes, people should respect your choice of ruining your own health, or in fact suicide for many. As long as it's far enough away from anyone else to suffer.

 georgia

so, in a pub or club, rather than stand outside you would prefer to give other people lung cancer would you?  Or are saying anyone who doesn't want the risk of lung cancer shouldn't go to that pub or club?

No,I would do the same as they do in Spain....Non smoking pub or club and then for the smokers.........smoking pub or club....

It's quite a simple process and revolves around CHOICE again.

Do you go to the cinema and then moan that you are forced to watch the film??

Do you go to Anfield and moan that Liverpool are playing?

As human beings we are capable of rational thought and Choice and shoulkd be allowed to utilise this......

so,if i choose to sit inside to smoke with people who also choose to smoke and people who don't smoke choose to sit in another pub with people who dont choose to smoke the surely we are all happy bunnies......

THE CHOICE SHOULD BE WITH THE OWNER OT THE PUB OR RESTAURANT .HE IS THE ONE WHO HAS INVESTED.

HE WILL SURELY CHOOSE THE OPTION  WHERE HE CAN MAKES THE BEST RETURN ON HIS INVESTMENT.

J AM IN THE CATERING INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA AND WHEN THE ANTI SMOKING LAW WAS PASSED J LOST 40%

OF MY BAR BUSINESS.IF IT WAS MORE PROFITABLE , IT  WOULD HAVE BEEN A NON SMOKING BAR A LONG TIME AGO.J HAVE SINCE OPENED ANOTHER SMOKING SECTION,AND THE TURNOVER IS 130% MORE THAN THE NON SMOKING ONE. BY THE WAY J AM O NON SMOKER.

VIVA CAPE TOWN

georgia

it could be said, if you were capable of rational thought, would you be a smoker?

as for your 'choice'  i'm all for it if there were no serious health issues. Do you want to have seperate 'smoking' clubs or bars that send a message to the young that smoking is acceptable?  Wouldn't a better message be 'this is a foul addiction that will ruin your health, cost you alot of money and may well kill you, so avoid starting at all costs if possible'?

Those in a position to influence potential smokers, by making it a dirty word, and not 'cool'  could save many lives and a hell of a lot of misery from the horrors linked to smoking.

 ok,So stop making cigarettes,stop selling cigarettes,ban cars because pollutions kills you,ban religion because more people die through conflict in this cause than both the world wars put together,swap Brown for a nice Dictatorship where we all have the same thinking and people are persecuted for thinking otherwise.

I choose to smoke as is my right to do so,i do have rational thought hence the fact that i no longer live in the UK where you are free to preach hate and burn the national flag in the Capital but nasty personal habits are seen as the lowest form of existence.

Ban TV because people may follow it's lead, Ban Cinema for the same reason,Ban sex education because it may encourage people to fornicate,Ban Radio, BanPlotics..............and on and on.

If you think that because people are allowed to smoke in Public every single person will do then you need to get out more...........

On a packet of Cigarettes it clearly states that smoking will damage your health,if you choose to ignore this then you take the consequences.

We are all given choices every single day and which direction we choose shapes our destiny,if i make bad ones then hey ho,live by the sword die by the sword,i dont expect this to influence or encourage others to follow suit.

Freedom of choice.................................!

I am convinced Goodstich is a member of Gordon Browns government as I have never seen a more let the nanny state rule our lives point of view.

Lets ban everything that could possibly hurt us

DONT SMOKE

DONT EAT RED MEAT

DONT DRIVE A CAR

DONT FLY

DONT USE GAS OR ELECTRICITY

DONT CROSS ANY ROAD

DONT DRINK MORE THAN 2 UNITS OF ALCOHOL A DAY

And by the way Britain has only been inhabited for 10000/12000 years because it was covered in ice before that. Was that man made global warming?

......o.k georgia, you keep your smoking head firmly in the sand. As you say it's your choice!

 Thanks i will......i am off to the beach for a ciggy.........

GJ

you couldn't be more wrong. I live life to the full, and love adventurous endurance sports (that i couldn't do if i smoked!) All of the other things you mentioned i've no problem with, because not having a smokers 'addict' head on, i don't kid myself that they in the same league when it comes to destroying health and worse still encouraging more to do the same.