To wish cafes would have a designated smoking area...

[ilooklikemrsploppy]

..which is completely separate from non smoking areas so I would be able to sit outside and enjoy the 'fresh' air without smoking the equivalent of 20 fucking fags!

[DarthVadersTailor]

Not exactly practical for lots of coffee shops though as they don't tend to be huge premises in the first place, at least in my town that's the case. Although I could appreciate a non-smoker doesn't want to breathe it in, I think most people also appreciate that smokers only really have outside areas to go to and are already highly marginalised as it is.

[Morloth]

Most cafes here have their own smoking get bans for outdoor dining areas.

No one has died from the inconvenience of not being able to smoke there.

From July this year it will be law.

Problem solved.

[Samcro]

i love the way people complain about this.
it is not illegal to smoke, and you have all of the indoors to be away from it

[Floggingmolly]

So, Samcro? In the summer, people like to be outdoors.

[Morloth]

Smokers have the same amount of access to both indoors and outdoors.

They are limiting their own choices.

[Dancergirl]

YABU

I wish cafes wouldn't have a smoking area at all. Smoke in your own house.

[BooChunky]

Again??

Boring.

[MythicalKings]

Maybe they should ban traffic from passing as well so your delicate lungs are protected from air pollution from their engines.

I'm a non-smoker btw.

YABVU

[squoosh]

I wish cafés had a designated area for those prone to exaggeration.

[Morloth]

As I said, nothing bad has happened due to the bans here and as most cafes/councils have them it doesn't effect business.

It isn't that hard to not smoke where other people are eating. I had a friend who smokes stay with me for a week recently. Lots of eating out.

No problems.

[CaspianSea]

I have people smoking in outdoor areas of cafes and pubs. I want to be able to enjoy the sun without foul-smelling tobacco smoke drifting over me. IMO it's very selfish to smoke around others, particularly when people are pregnant, have young children or are trying to enjoy a meal. Didn't realise there is a ban from July, am delighted by this!

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Ilooklikemrsploppy - I don't know how a cafe or restaurant would successfully screen off an area of their outside space, so that the cigarette smoke won't drift into a non-smoking area, and most don't have two completely seperate areas (a courtyard at the front of the building and a garden at the back, for example), and I can't see how else they are supposed to create two completely separate areas.

The solution, as a previous poster has said, is for cafes to decide to become completely non-smoking, inside and out, but they will then lose some custom from smokers - so it will be a commercial decision.

I am old enough to remember the days when there were designated smoking areas inside restaurants - and they never worked, in my experience. I always hated the smell of cigarette smoke from other areas of the restaurant or cafe, when I was eating my meal, and I am much happier now there is a ban on smoking inside - but as my mum is, and always has been, a heavy smoker, I do appreciate the restrictions placed on smokers, and can understand why they wouldn't want even more - ie. you can't smoke outside our cafe, or you can only smoke in the special area, round the back by the bins!

[ShatnersBassoon]

I quite enjoy the tiny amount of danger it adds to an otherwise mundane coffee.

[squoosh]

There won't be in the UK Caspian. You'll have to move to Australia to enjoy that particular ban.

[Stinkersmum]

YABU.

[Grantaire]

Has somebody brought up traffic fumes yet?



Of course they have.

Exhaust fumes are irrelevant. Motorised vehicles have enriched, improved and transformed lives. They benefit most people's lives directly or indirectly. Of course their effect on their environment is of massive concern and is worthy of discussion. It isn't, however, a justification for smoking.

Smoking is an individual's decision and has no benefit to society as a whole.


It would be nice if one of these threads could concentrate on the issue of smoking.

Cars are to smoking as children running in the road are to smacking.

[Morloth]

Yep sorry Caspian, I didn't say where 'here' was.

I assume though enough people have pushed for this for it to come about, majority rules and the majority here in Sydney don't smoke.

[MythicalKings]

Fuck off, why should the rest of us go inside to get away from you stinking people?

Because you're irritating and whiney and we don't want to hear you.

[Dancergirl]

Wonder if the UK will go the same way eventually...?

The traffic analogy is a stupid one. You have a choice to use a cafe that's on the main road or off the beaten track. You can hardly complain about traffic if the former.

[forago]

I completely agree with you. we have a local Costa with 6 tables outside, in the sunshine, where it would be lovely to sit. But anyone who objects to being surrounded by second hand smoke can't use them as they are constantly full.of people smoking. you have to run the gauntlet to get through them.

I think its probably fine with a large enough outdoor area as they can section it off. But with a small outdoor eatuing area it is effectively preventing people from sitting outside because other people choose to smoke.

[Stinkersmum]

MthyicalKings lol! High 5.

Grantaire no, smoking itself doesn't have a benefit on society as a whole, but the net £5bn or so it adds to the public purse every year does, no?

[squoosh]

If I were a café owner with say four tables outside there's no way I'd ban people from smoking. In doing so I'd effectively be turning away customers and that makes no business sense whatsoever.

If I had a restaurant with a large terrace/outdoor space I'd be much more inclined to cordon off a no smoking area.

[Stinkersmum]

forago maybe those smokers want to sit outside anyway, just as you do. How will you complain about that?

[Viviennemary]

No I don't think cafes should have a separate area for smokers as smoke travels. I don't think people should be allowed to smoke outside either. With all the accompanying filth of ash and cigarette ends. Yuck. Smokers stop smoking. You'll do everyone a favour most of all yourself.