http://www.smokefreeengland.co.uk/



It started at 6:30am this morning, I'm so going the pub tonight just to enjoy the law. Basically if a smoker gets caught they get a £50 fine, the owner of the company/service gets a £200 fine and if it persists they lose there license to trade.

It's gonna be soo nice to go back home from the pub not stinking of HORIBLE smoke in my hair.

We talked about this in the team meeting were I work yesterday and it's a well interesting subject to debate about.

PS I have never smoked and I never will!!

it is wrong for any government with focus on citizens rights to make such a law. It happens in this country as well. It should NEVER be the governments decision. If a bar or restaurant thought it would help business or benefit their health to prohibit smoking then they would. If you own a business you shouldnt be restricted on what goes on inside as long as its not against the law. As long as smoking is not illegal then it shouldnt be governmentally prohibited in bars and restaurant. If you hate the smell of smoke so much you have the choice not to go to a bar.

It is absurd, and no solid piece of evidence shows that it has negative health risks to the demographic of bar goers (unless you have a predisposed allergy or asthma).

If you are ok with this then you will just keep giving the government power over citizens rights whenever it may benefit you, until its too late.

But what if your family goes in the bar, you end up with no choice, which is why I like it.

you always have a choice, you never HAVE to go, that is unless there is a law that says you do

stupid law... will completely change pubs and not for the better...

thats the british government for you. at one point we ruled over a quarter of the globe. now we cant even smoke in a pub.

Personally, I think it makes sense. If it means you have to go outside for a fag then so be it and if you do chose to kill yourself, your not including me as well

(a fag is a cigarette, not a gay here)

I can understand other people's sentiments against this law, but I am all for it. I lived in California for 8 years and loved the fact that you could go into a restaurant and enjoy a meal without somebody breathing smoke over you.

However, I feel that smoking in America is a very different issue to smoking in Britain. Firstly, in the USA (AFAIK) the legal age for purchasing tobacco products is 18. In the UK, it is 16. We have a LOT more teenagers smoking. It is not uncommon to find children as young as 12 smoking outside of schools.

This is not just a moral or health-risk issue. If the owners of pubs and restaurants were allowed to choose to allow smoking or not, every where would be a smoking establishment because it brings in more customers.

You really have to look at it from other people's perspective before you pass judgement.

How ironic is this; I fly to California the day after England goes smoke-free?!

not true, Scotland has been smoke free in enclosed public places for over a year now. I never ever hear anybody complaining and pubs get more business because non smokers are more willing to pop in for a pint.

It's also helped alot of people give up smoking, which can only be a good things.




i think your being very ignorant towards non-smokers. Regardless of any facts you claim to know about health risk many people just don't like the smell. I mean i smoke weed, but i fucking hate the smell of cigs.

Just saying something like "oh it's your choice" is ridiculous. It's also peoples choice to go to work if they hate it, but they need to put food on the table.

Bars are places for everyone to enjoy, why should only smokers enjoy it? Nobody is stopping them smoking, they are just being made to smoke outside, a few feet away from where they would be drinking.

Well every restaurant Ive been too has a smoking and nonsmoking section, and that has always worked out.

The fact that they are taking the choice away from business owners


If I look at it from someone who doesn't smoke, and really didn't like the smell of it, I wouldn't go to a bar. I wouldn't lobby to make smoking illegal there.

It is simply not a health risk and is simply the government overstepping their bounds.


EDIT: A bar isnt a "public" place, it isnt a park or anything, its a place of business where those of age go to drink and be with people. If a bar owner wanted his establishment smoke free then you have to respect it. When the government tells an owner he cannot let his patrons smoke is absurd

and who was stopping non-smokers from doing this before?

ok i get the not in bars and pubs thing. but why is it that you cant even smoke in a works van? or a company car?

Hmmm bout time...

In my opinion smoking is one of the filtyest most discusting things people can do... If people are going to kill themselves, just do it quickly and quietly, not slowly, painfully and annoy everyone else while theyre at it.

amen to that ^

IMHO paedophiles are the filthiest most disgusting people on the planet. Instead of focusing on real crime lets criminalize your average Joe. I'm all for no smoking clubs etc but I would rather let the owner decide if he/she wants their premises smoke free or not.

This thread is way too biased for me, every single person against the law is a smoker, and every single person for it doesn't smoke.. pretty pointless imho.

BTW: I also like being able to smoke in bars and restaurants.. And my city has nearly banned even outdoor smoking in public places

actually, i dont smoke... never have...

Personally i think the world would be a better place without tobacco... but that'll never happen.

i am for the law and have been for the past year whilst in been here in scotland and i smoke.

Well I didn't get a chance to go out on Sunday, but I've arranged to go out tonight to our local village pub, it will be interesting to see if they enforce it.

what happens when if the owner gets caught smoking in his bar, breaking a law designed to protect him, I am curious to what would happen

The law is not to protect the bar owner, it's to protect anybody who does not smoke.

lostboyz, you sound a little bit ignorant about the whole thing. Non-smokers have every right to be able to go out without having to breathe in second hand smoke. This is coming from a guy who doesn't usually smoke but smokes almost every time hr drinks. I just go outside to smoke.

In fact, it even adds to the bar/pub, because there is a scene inside, then when you get sick of that you can go outside and it will be completely different people to talk too and different surroundings. It has been non-smoking in public places here in Ontario, Canada for a while and I love it.

Heh, wait until someone gets offended by the beer on your breath. You wont have a pub to go to and then THEY'LL be happy.


Isnt that neat?

Heh, wait until someone gets offended by the beer on your breath. You wont have a pub to go to and then THEY'LL be happy.


Isnt that neat?






I love how people get excited when freedoms get taken away.

Beer breath doesn't even compare to second hand smoke, can we think about our posts before we hit "Add Reply" please!

well im a smoker but i see the point of this law because some people dont smoke.recently my wife and i have had our first child and for her sake im all for it.but...banning smoking at bars kinda sux cause thats part of the whole bar scene(at least where i live)and on the same note i dont like freedoms being taken away ever!im so confused.......

I realize I sound ignorant, but the law is just sooo dumb. They could enforce better smoking/non smoking regulations for restaurants and the like. If you walked up to anyone on the street and asked them what they expected at a bar they would all say people drinking and smoking. Its what a bar is. I would not however tell an owner that decided to make his place smoke free that it is dumb. I feel that this is just a piece of legislation becoming more and more popular that is just taking freedom of choice away from its citizens. Just wait until there are laws banning other things deemed "annoying" until you are practically giving your rights away so you are no longer annoyed.

To be honest I do smoke and I JUST turned 21 a couple days ago, so yes my views are ignorant and biased but look at the big picture here, it is the government taking away the freedom of choice. Because after you cant smoke in the bar then you cant smoke outside anywhere, you will have to go to your car to smoke. I dont know about the UK or canada but there is a huge amount of money in the economy from either tobacco farming or taxing, that it is impossible to just remove it completely.


When will it soon be illegal to be drunk, because it annoys those patrons that go to the bar to have a drink instead of getting plastered. It all sounds dumb and ignorant but not far-fetched.

We've been free from smoke in public places since june 2005 in Sweden and virtually everyone loves it.
I, as a non-smoker, absolutely love the ban as I can go to the bar and not smell like shit in the hair and clothes when I come home.
Even most smokers liked the ban and many took the opportunity to stop smoking (should be noted very few in Sweden smoke anyway compared to the rest of Europe).

Con the ban:
Smokers rights

Pro the ban:
Not smelling like shit
No soaring eyes
The waiters are not exposed to massive amounts of dangerous second hand smoke
The bar goers are not exposed to dangerous second hand smoke
Several people stop smoking

The only ones really irritated before the ban were the bar owners believing they'd lose costumers, instead they got more costumers.

Never ever have I seen a political decision that's been more successful than the smoking ban. Virtually everyone loves it, even most smokers (at least the one's with conscience).

I don't care if people smoke at all, smoke alone and smell like shit, by all means. But if they smoke public they affect other people with their poison and then I sure as shit get pissed off.

Well I went out last night in the village and both places enforced it which was good, 1st pub I went to (we have 4 pubs in our village) was great I could actually breath in properly I could DEFENTLY NOTICE THE Difference.

My friends tried to get me outside while they smoked, I said no and it was piss funny watching them all go outside with there coats on. HAHA, I was on my own for like 5 minutes, not bothering at all it was busy and had music on and I had my pint.

Then second pub (most my friends gone home at this point) I did go out with 2 of my mates, cuz my mates feared of me getting beaten up lol lol .

Then I ended up having 7 pints till like 12:30, then woke up this morning like shit I gotta go work.

Then I didn't even bother enforcing the law at work (I have to) there were to many well built guys who could punch my lights out, I didn't even dare lol at work it's 10 meters from buildings at pubs it 1.85 meters.

There gonna talk about it in team meeting tomorrow hehe.

Smoking bans are stupid. Sure, people don't have to breathe the fumes.. But what about cars? They emit noxious fumes as well. You have no option not to inhale them either, the same as second hand smoke (except will kill you a lot quicker).

Speaking on that subject.. which smells worse: A nice Cohiba cigar or the fumes from the tailpipe of a Hummer H2?

It's not like EVERYONE is smoking anyways.

I am a smoker and have been smoking for 2 and a half years, though I wasn't a heavy smoking until I turned 18 much earlier this year. I primarily smoke cigars, though when I need a tobacco fix I will smoke cigarettes or from a pipe.

* This is based upon my experience in living in the U.S... If England is any different, I wouldn't know as I've never been there.

Something like that? I need to have a smoke now.