Northern Star said:
now even i agree there m8
i wont have a cig where people are eating....i dont like smoke around when im eating tbh
thats why im saying im happy to be segregated.....respect for everyone......if we have places we can smoke then im happy but im also happy if peeps have places they can avoid smoke to
It's a tough one. I speak from having lived in pubs/hotels/restaurants for years...and, by convention (in its legal sense), pubs are smoky. Most pubs have a non smoking area, apart from the die-hard boozer publicans/licencees from yesteryear. If you go to a pub, are you not saying 'yes, I am happy to go to an environment that is smoky' because the pub has been a smoky environment for years - its convention. And its accepted.
So, the govt want to change this convention. Fair enough. Their argument is sound. Why should people who want to work or customers who want to use these establishments put up with the smoke? Well, convention says they should - its the norm... this is just the govt trying to make things a little more balanced for the non smokers. Why should convention be in favour of smokers?
However, most half decent places have air con too, which helps air quality. Smoke smoke drifts upwards to an extractor, and you feel a lot fresher.
Though this also means that heat is regulated - to the publican this can equate to you drinking less. As a result, prices can be a little higher, or they do switch the air con off in certain places to bump up the heat a little. That makes it more smoky - plus the heat makes it feel more cloying. That's not good.
Right - if non smokers are so p*ssed off with smoky bars, why are there not more totally non-smoking bars and pubs out there? Is there really a call for this on a commercial level? No... non smoking bars automatically exclude a large chunk of the - conventional - clientele from their establishment.
Am I making a decision on this? Yes - I think that smokers, whilst they have the right to smoke, should smoke responsibly.
If you eat somewhere like the Palais du Jardin or the Ivy, there are sections where tables are 3 inches apart... everything you say - and your smoke, drifts to the table next door. You are allowed to smoke of course, but you are asked to exercise discretion for your fellow restaurant goers. I myself find it very difficult to concentrate on a decent plate of grub with smoke drifting over. You will get glances from people even though you are in the smoking section... I wouldn't even spark it, if I saw that neighbouring tables were still chowing down.
Not like my mate - albeit this was a curry house in Brick Lane - he sparked up and couldn't give a monkeys as... it was allowed, they had provided ashtrays and it was a smoking area. He was hardnosed about it. The neighbouring customers should have gone non-smoking.
I say he should have been more... err, considerate.
OK, in the perfect world we'd all be patient, and tolerant and considerate 24/7. Then again life wouldn't be fun.
My final take on this - if people WERE more considerate in public places and if establishments did have well defined zones and decent air con equipment BY LAW, there would be no need for this.
The govt cannot enforce pubs etc to zone/air con - the commerical interests of the firms forebear the cost of such measures...(though, did you know that kitchens in these places are extremely highly regulated - that extractors for each appliance in there has to have a measured level of capacity based on the area of the kitchen etc).
As a result, we get the possible ban.
Why not have a referendum? I can't believe that the UK bi-cameral parliamentary system, which is the basis for many democratic systems round the world still does not have a national system for referenda in place. We should demand this as the populace.
Why doesn't the UK have one - because referenda can have the most abysmal turnouts and the results are called to question. Everyone likes to talk a lot down the smoky pub, but won't walk to the non-smoky school hall round the corner to cast their vote.
Here's a good (in my mind) secondary question... Should you moan about smoking bans, proposed bans, investigations into proposed bans etc, if you don't actively vote in parliamentary elections?
Rant over. Ez.
:| its jus not right....i think a lot of pubs will suffer and so will the clubs cus i wont attend and im sure im not the only one who thinks the same way