Smoking Ban

[BigMac]

When will it come into effect - assuming the Bill becomes an Act by, say, end July?

Will you stop smoking?

Will you start smoking at home?

Will you go to the pub more/less?

Will you join an exempt place, like a WMC or private club (subject of course to the terms of the Act)?

[OBonio]

Hopefully I will stop smoking. No, I've never smoked at home. I will go to the pub less. Which isn't a bad thing!

[undercovers]

I'll go to the pub as much as i now do but i'll prob change which pubs i go to e.g. only the ones that are operating the ban

[Kirki]

i will spend more time down the pub and wont come home smelling of stale ciggies (hurray!)

I went in a non-smoking pub in Glasgow in December(The Monkey & Drum or something like that) and it was a right dump, the cider was flat and there was a man puking all over the floor in the corner.... just thought i would share that with you guys!!

[flashpig]

The manager of my local pub has said that as the pub doesn't serve food they'll probably be exempt from it.

If there is an Ireland-style ban... I guess I'd just drink in the house more over winter and sit in their garden during the nicer months.

[AliFlump]

Ill go same as i do now but enjoy it more, i hate that burning feeling in your throat when you come home and how your clothes stink.

[Drisgirl]

It comes into effect on 26 March 06.

I dont smoke and I will be delighted.After a couple of hiccups in Eire no-one bats an eyelid.Bliss coming home without stinking of smoke and coughing because of other people chain smoking (not all but some do not consider non-smokers).

[Gef]

Once again this makes me laugh. Why do people go to pubs where they know that there will be people smoking and then complain that the smoke irritates them and that their clothes smell. Why don't they just do to a non-smoking pub - surely there must be lots of them since it seems that a lot of people do not smoke.

Personally I go to pubs where smoking is allowed and yet I do not complain about the smoke. Unfortunately to get to the pub I have to walk along roads polluted by vehicles pumping out carbon particles, carbon monoxide and other noxious gases.

I can, at the moment, choose which pub to go to but I cannot choose to walk along pollution free roads.

[Gef]

Sorry BigMac. I went into a rant without answering your questions. I probably won't stop smoking and I already smoke at home. I don't go to the pub that often but would think twice about going unless there was somewhere where I could smoke. Unfortunately, I don't think there will be any exempt places in Scotland.

By the way, I visited Dublin in April 2004 just a few days after the introduction of their smoking ban. I popped into a few pubs and most were very quiet until I found the Temple Bar. It had a central courtyard area open to the sky but mostly covered by an awning in which smoking was allowed. A very busy pub.

[Drisgirl]

Gef laugh all you like but for the life of me where I live I cannot find a no smoking pub.

Anyway am I not entitled to a social life without people not being considerate enough to at least curtail the amount they smoke in public.

In Eire the pubs were initially quiet as I previously inferred but most of the local pubs have outside areas with heaters etc for the smokers.

Husband works there and doesnt just go for the jolly and he is a smoker and is totally used to it now.In fact he now only smokes in the kitchen or back door because he cant stand the stale smoke in the living room in the morning now when he comes home.

[AliFlump]

Completely agree with Drisgirl, there are NO no smoking pubs near me and i go to the pub to enjoy a drink like the smokers do but i havent got a disgusting habit to impose on everyone.

[scotty]

The fact is that the pubs in Eire are suffering big time after the ban on smoking, the felt the pinch after the ban came in and are still struggling. Many are repoting a big drop in profits, and have to put up tents outside for the smokers, leaving the inside of the pub empty. The answer in my view, is to install really good extraction fans , they are so good nowadays that a ban is not needed.

To answer your question BigMac, I will stop going to the pub. Even non-smokers I know are saying that it a step too far, because they know that the craik in the pubs will not be the same.

[Hippy]

(1) When? March, and not a minute too soon.

(2) Stop? Not applicable. Not a smoker anyway.

(3) Start? Definitely not. Ugh!

(4) Probably more. Only one pub im my locality worth going to as it has extraction that sucks your wig off. I still come home pooing of stale tobacco, and plunge clothes straight in washer!

(5) Exempt place? That would not be a reason for joining.

(Extra) I really hope that Parliament goes for the all out ban. It's much fairer on all concerned. By far the majority of people in this country do not smoke, and surely we the majority have the right to not be unnecessarily polluted by a misguided and somewhat selfish minority. Not smoking is the natural behaviour for humans, it is the smoking that is aberrant, destructive, unnecessary, and distasteful.

[Gef]

Sorry hippy, but polluting the atmosphere by driving is also not natural for humans.

[Hippy]

No need to apologise for stating the obvious, Gef!

[daisy duke]

I really enjoy smoking with my real ale. I never smoke at home but it is just part of the relaxation of having a night in a pub.

I'm sorry to say that I won't go to the pub if I can't smoke there.

[Drisgirl]

Daisy - Can I ask - why dont you smoke at home?

[Kazmc123]

personally, i cant wait for the ban to come into force as im an habitial 'social smoker' i.e i couldnt physically bring myself to smoke during the day, but as soon as ive had a few on a night out i become a chain smoker!lol! im hoping that the ban will stop this lil habit altogether.

i dont particularly mind people smoking...what does annoy me tho is the attitude of some non-smokers,who look on smokers with distain, and often offer some nuggett of knowledge, such as 'they are disguisting' or 'they will kill you' (tell us something we dont already know)...we all have the freedom of choice, so why dont these uptight people stop looking so closely at the actions of others and look a little closer to home? each to their own i say...let the smokers smoke, and the moaners moan!

[puzzlemaniac]

I will be more inclined to go to the pub more often. I look forward to leaving the pub and not stinking like an old ashtray.

[newtron]

I don't smoke. After the ban, I will go to the pub just as often as I do now.

Personally, I think it should be up to the pub owner to decide whether or not smoking is allowed in his/her pub.

Smoking was banned in all restaurants and bars in New Mexico, where I was living, and the one thing that I didn't like was that at indoor concerts, it is impossible to smoke other subtances behind the smoke screen created by smokers.