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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

About people smoking in beer gardens?

168 replies

Shellym13 · 28/05/2017 19:43

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.

OP posts:
bailz · 30/05/2017 10:41

They are smoking outside in a ventilated area. If you, as a non smoker, chose to sit next to someone who is already in their designated area and already smoking, then you cannot ask them to stop. If you're that bothered about your health you shouldn't be drinking or eating chips.
You have the option of not sitting there, if it's the only seat left, then stand. You don't HAVE to sit next to a smoker, ever. If they sit next to you then you can complain, but not if you're sitting in the smoking area.

Bettyspants · 30/05/2017 10:48

Rather odd the amount of posters that seem to compare families using beer gardens and not being keen on smokers and 'adult only spaces ' adult only space or families present, being in close proximity to smokers is unpleasant to most of us and still poses the risks associated with second hand smoke , passive smoking. Being outside doesn't mean that the smoke disperses instantly!! Completely agree with darthmaiden and her approach. If there isn't a separate smoking area then a degree of consideration needs to be shown ....

Bettyspants · 30/05/2017 10:50

Bailz you seem you be slightly confused with the health risks of a bag or crisps and a drink compared to cigarettes, not comparible. Try again.

Gowgirl · 30/05/2017 11:34

Woohoo! Summers here Grin
Ban kids in pubs, jobs good!

Quick wave to all the usual suspects including the bisto kid.....off for a fag now x

PuckeredAhole · 30/05/2017 11:55

Bailz. By saying what you're saying re: chips and vodka, you are minimising the devastating effects that smoking has. It ruins lives. It really does. I've always hated smoking but I despise it now. My dad is going to die and he never smoked.

PuckeredAhole · 30/05/2017 11:57

gowgirl are you not afraid of possibly getting a life limiting disease or do you not think that far ahead....your flippancy astounds me.

I can't believe that in this day and age, with all that we know about nicotine that people still do it. My mind boggles and I'll never understand it.

gillybeanz · 30/05/2017 12:29

I'll never understand why so many people drink and pickle their liver, it's horses for courses.

Beer gardens are for beer and smoking, not kids and bloody families spoiling a good drinking session with a few fags.
There are plenty of family friendly venues, it's nice to get away from kids and their annoying ways, once in a while.

Gowgirl · 30/05/2017 12:29

I've seen too many of these threads to be anything other than flippant.
Its a pub, not a soft play centre, not a restaurant a pub. An adult environment that id rather was childfree especially in the evening.

expatinscotland · 30/05/2017 12:32

'My dad is a never smoker and has just been diagnosed with lung cancer so you can shove your smokers attitude where the sun doesn't shine.'

Lung cancer is not exclusive to smokers. Plenty of people who never smoked or were exposed to smoke get lung cancer.

'gowgirl are you not afraid of possibly getting a life limiting disease or do you not think that far ahead'

Some people are not. Some people don't care to live very long. And despite any lifestyle you carry out, no one is immune to disease.

Beerwench · 30/05/2017 12:34

You don't have to understand it though puckered. People smoke, it's bad for their health, the majority of smokers know and accept this, I do.
And it's not nicotine that does most of the damage, it's the associated chemicals in the smoke. Nicotine is the substance you become addicted to.
I try and be considerate to others and not 'inflict' my smoke on others, especially children. Separate areas in beer gardens would be a good idea.

MackerelOfFact · 30/05/2017 12:44

I forget people still smoke. It seems like such a throwback now. I'm always slightly surprised when I get a whiff of cigarettes a sunny day!

I don't really agree that smokers are a persecuted group though. It's not a protected characteristic. You choose to take up smoking and you choose to light every single cigarette you smoke every time you smoke one. It's a choice, and a pretty antisocial one at that.

Imagine if street gobbers had the same attitude and were moaning that they were banned from gobbing indoors, and then people were complaining about them gobbing outside while they were eating, and how it's all so unfair that they, as gobbers, aren't free to gob wherever the fuck they like, and that if non-gobbers didn't like being outside with all their gob, they should stay inside.

Smoking is every bit as disgusting and antisocial as gobbing, IMO, plus it actually affects people's health!

Crunchyside · 30/05/2017 12:51

MackerelOfFact I agree with you about the gobbing analogy! Do some of these smokers not realise how foul it is?! Especially when you get a great big lungful of someone's smoke as they walk past - bleurgh.

Destinysdaughter · 30/05/2017 12:54

I wish we could ban moany anti smoking threads! Grin

EndInjustice · 30/05/2017 13:02

I wish we could ban smoking. Sad

kali110 · 30/05/2017 13:23

Smoking deniers will not take on board my words and will say they've heard it all before. I am not judgemental. The truth just hurts.
I don't deny smoking causes cancer.
I'm also not a smoker!
I'm also not judgmental Confused

gamerchick · 30/05/2017 13:26

I wish we could ban moany anti smoking threads!

Noooo they're highly entertaining Grin so much frothing although I'm slightly disappointed in this one. Usually the summer ones explode!

Chattymummyhere · 30/05/2017 13:57

Always when the sun comes out do these threads appear.

You know what I'm sick of? As a non driver who walks most places the stench from cars polluting the air I and my children breath from inconsiderate car drivers I mean it kills us all slowly from pollution but they are just too lazy to walk...

Ban all cars... oh wait that's crazy. Stop moaning about a few fags being smoked outside, we have much bigger chemical/pollutant issues.

BoneyBackJefferson · 30/05/2017 14:05

bailz

but not if you're sitting in the smoking area.

Very few places have designated smoking areas,

FreeSpiritJen · 30/05/2017 14:13

Ex-smoker here. Stopped 2 over decade ago

I dislike the smell too and am glad it was banned indoors. Even when I was a smoker, the smoke used to make me choke in pubs and bars and nightclubs. Restaurants not were not so bad as they have pretty much always had no-smoking areas. And also I went for a trip on a coach where smoking was allowed once. 10 hours on a coach (in 1 day) with half the people smoking! Confused Awful.

Nevertheless, I get that it is a drug and also it is actually enjoyable, and people should be allowed to do it somewhere. They have been banned from the inside, and now they can't do it in the beer garden? Not sure where they are meant to go? In the road maybe? JMHO.

supermoon100 · 30/05/2017 14:39

It's how gleefully unapologetic smokers are that surprises me. What seems to be a complete disregard for the environment around them is only further emphasised by all the fag butts they leave everywhere. Many a summer have I spent picking fag ends out of the grass in my local park where I would be picnicking with my toddlers.

Jaxhog · 30/05/2017 15:22

I go to pubs now that smoking is banned. And I agree that we should somehow segregate smokers and non smokers outside. No problem if people want to smoke, but not right next to me when I'm eating please. It's just common courtesy.

I do sometimes wonder whether smokers really understand how unpleasant it is for those who don't smoke.

Beerwench · 30/05/2017 15:32

Supermoon - I'm not 'gleefully unapologetic' it's my personal choice and I try to not inflict it on others, so then I'll have nothing to apologise for.
Nor do I have a complete disregard for the environment around me.
Another sweeping statement that condemns anyone who does something others disagree with.

supermoon100 · 30/05/2017 17:05

You have to admit that most smokers throw their fag butts on the ground, thereby disregarding the environment around them, surely that's not a sweeping statement?

LittleBooInABox · 30/05/2017 17:17

You wanted them banned from restaurants they were so in the winter they suffer.

In the summer they get the good weather and the garden, you get inside. Deal with it. You can't have it all.

Bettyspants · 30/05/2017 18:11

I think we will 'get it all' at some point as there's a drive to ban smoking in all public places Grin