About people smoking in beer gardens?

[Shellym13]

I know I am being U but we just got back from a lovely weekend away. Weather was fantastic and we loved sitting outside to eat and chat in the sun.
I was so annoyed with the amount of smokers using the beer garden as a smokers den. All my family smokes but I am quite sensitive to the smell! I hate walking through the crowds gathered at the door but when you're trying to eat and everyone is smoking or rather lighting cigarettes and leaving them burning away in ashtrays, it was awful.
Is it just me or would separate outdoor areas be a good idea, the smell just makes me heave! Just because you are outside doesn't mean the smoke doesn't blow in your face. if a place e is serving food should it not be separated.
Apologies to smokers I know we all have to live together, I'm not really sure what the solution is.

It's not a few, it's the vast majority

You don't help your argument when you resort to hyperbole like that. Saying that the vast majority of pubs have closed is just completely untrue.

Since we're trading anecdata here's my two pen'oth. When I think of the pubs that have closed down, with the notable exception of two, they deserved to go. They were badly run, dirty and shabby or offered a limited and uninspired range of drinks or were known for violence or being very unwelcoming to anyone who wasn't part of a hard bitten drinkers who spent all day, every day chucking lager down their throats. In every case there's been a clearly discernable reason why it's closed.

As someone upthread said, blaming the smoking ban is an oversimplification at best and a total cop out at worse.

So people can't smoke inside ( which is fair enough) but now They can't smoke outside either?
how exactly would a separate smoking area work?
You're still going to be able to smell it unless the area is huge?
What a complete waste of space except for a tiny part of the summer!

Good riddance to those pubs and welcome to modern pubs where the whole family are welcome (women and children!), and smoking is banned. T
Since when couldn't women go to the pub?

No smoking within x (can't remember if it's 50 meters) of any public building or food service establishment....so happy I'm in Canada
Smoke free children's playgrounds

I very rarely (maybe twice a year) used to go to pubs and restaurants before the smoking ban. But now that the environment is so much nicer, DH and I go far more often (about once a week).

I do find that if the pub garden is very full, as it often will be on a sunny weekend, it's too smoky to sit outside, so we end up staying inside. It would be lovely to sit outside smoke free, but I suppose the smokers have to go somewhere.

kali110 when I was growing up there were pubs where women were not welcome and had a hard time getting served. And when my mum was growing up there were pubs that just would not let women in at all. I'm 47 so it's a while ago, but well within living memory.

There are also licensing laws to consider. I'm sure they're not allowed to encourage people to smoke by the front doors.... or not allowed so many people or something.

Tbf, threads like this are useless. Smoking will never be completely banned (which, lets be fair, is what you want ) because of the money it generates through taxes.
My OH had been trying to quit since I fell pregnant but he really struggles and has been to the doctors about 8 times. And the pharmacist. He's waiting on a prescription but no one has bothered with him. They all bang on about helping you quit but in reality they won't.

Smoking and drinking go hand in hand. There are loads and loads of people who 'only smoke when they have a drink' and nothing goes better with a cig than a nice pint/glass of wine. I agree that kids shouldn't be allowed in the pub. Perhaps during the day but certainly gone by 5/6pm.
People want to have fun, swear, flirt, drink and therefore get drunk in pubs, you shouldn't want to take your children into that environment! Go to a restaurant if you want lunch!

'Good riddance to those pubs and welcome to modern pubs where the whole family are welcome (women and children!), and smoking is banned. '

Oh, dear god, NO! Long live the licensing laws in Scotland where you can't bring the kids in after a certain hour (and those that ban them entirely). Let's have some adult-only spaces instead of expecting it all to be like a playgroup meetup in Costa.

Well, most people pushed hard for smoking inside to be outlawed and it was .

SUCK IT THE HELL UP . Can't have it both damn ways OP !!

YES LDR it IS ! Death Knell for most pubs that would be !!!

WTAF do some of you want ?

Some people SMOKE get over it

Only on Mumsnet do I see such fucking hysteria . Do you also fret about exhaust fumes as well or just the smokers ??!

You wouldn't exactly be sitting in a beer garden with a car running it's engine tho would you? But whilst we are on the topic, I do ask stationary vehicles to turn off their engines.

I think it's pretty disgusting, particularly with family pubs and the beer garden being used as a place for families with young children to eat. Several local pubs have made their beer gardens non smoking , there's been a lot of support for it. I'm sure there will eventually be a smoking ban in public places

Think of it less as people smoking in the beer garden and more as you choosing to eat in the smoking area- after all that's what it is apart from a few weeks a year

I do think smoking should be banned in public places, it's disgusting.

I am more annoyed by all the eaters who now turn up at pubs and spend ages at the bar dithering other their food order for 5 minutes so all the drinkers have to wait whilst they decide whether Uncle George wants chips or salad with his lasagne.

I posted a similar thread a few weeks ago about smokers lighting up right next to where I was eating lunch with my kids at a cafe in a park, adjacent to a kids play area. I got told I was completely unreasonable and should just put up with smoke wafting across my meal.

I entirely agree that smoking should be banned where food is being served.

it must have been a nice day as this thread has popped up again

never see it in january

I'm a social smoker, so do frequent pub gardens. I think they should have designated smoking tables away from where people are enjoying a meal. I would never light up at a table next to people eating, how awful for them, smokers are mostly considerate but many aren't and it makes us all look bad.

I know what you mean op and I have been to some pub gardens that have a separate smoking area. I suppose it depends on the size of the garden. What bothers me more is the smoke you have to walk through on entering or exiting a public building. When I took my DD home from hospital, just 1 day old, her first lungful of air was from the the smoking gathering outside the maternity entrance. Now the whole hospital grounds are smoke free thankfully.

And when my mum was growing up there were pubs that just would not let women in at all. I'm 47 so it's a while ago, but well within living memory.

I grew up in a mining area and some of the more 'traditional' pubs that catered to miners coming off shift didn't have women's toilets at all. This would be in the mid-80s.

Oh and remember the 'family rooms' in pubs in the 70s/80s. My parents must have hated to be stuck in a small room full of games and space invaders and other people's kids just to have a shandy on their holiday!

It's disgusting, I don't know if smokers realise how bad the stench is. Particularly when eating.

The absolute worst kind of smokers are the ones who know how revolting it smells, so hold their cigarette behind them/away from
them, and in the faces of me (9months preg) and my toddler sat at the next table.

RestlessTraveller
I'm the one made to stand in the beer garden in the middle of winter and in the pouring rain. The sun cones out and suddenly all you non-smoker are in my space and moaning. wink

Just like it used to be for non smokers

Sorry BoneyBack I'm not sure what you're saying. You're allowed inside?