Going for a smoke ?

[ninnyscrops]

They didn't tell us it was bad for us way back did they though?  Hubby's grandma gave up when she was in her 80's and we said goodbye to her at 107! Hubby's ma is in her 80's and still partaking. We don't smoke in restuarants or around non-smokers, but how do we stand at work?  Just the two of us - we could hold any meeting after a 24 hour smoke free zone, not allow anyone to cross the threshold uninvited. Having said that, if we all gave up everyone's tax would rise considerably!
Sir Walter Raleigh got it right with potatoes........................

[ninnyscrops]

[SamLouise]

I think that smokers need to realise that no one is trying to stop them smoking. It is just that the 4 out of 5 people who don't want to breath their smoke have said enough is enough and if smokers want to smoke they can do so away from others who do not want to breath it.  Want to put your life at risk?  Go ahead, it's entirely your choice but don't try and take mine with you. 

In introducing this ban, smoking is only being brought into line with drinking and sex. In both activities you are free to enjoy yourself until you start to harm others ( forced sex, under age sex, drunk and disorderly, drink driving etc.) at that point we legislate to prevent the harm. The legislation regarding smoking is not pointing the way ahead to some dark orwellian world but simply bringing smoking in line with the way our other activities are regulated.

Being drunk and sick in public is illegal. Littering the street and other people's property is also illegal. Drinkers defend their freedom to drink but accept the legislation which makes any resulting activity which adversely affects others illegal.  All we are now doing is expecting smokers to accept the same resrictions. Many city centres have passed by laws banning public drinking. We do not hear of drinkers bleating about the infringement of their rights to drink when and where they want, we just accept the law and get on with our lives - smokers would do well to follow this example.

[keef]

Its just about acceptable that people should not be subjected to others smoke - i can understand the reasoning, however if everyone in a pub, club, cafe wants to smoke or dont mind others smoking then why cant we ? thats what annoys me.. I would say that the vast majority of people that regualry drink in pubs have no issue with it...

Today everyone knows the dangers of smoking - if you dont then quite frankly your ignorant, so why cant the government let us make out own minds up?

[greyhound]

although smoking in public places has been banned in Scotland for some time, I haven't returned to the pub.

Hmmm.  The (non-smoking) landlord of one of our locals has been saying for some time that non-pubgoers will flock to his pub in droves once the smoking ban comes in.  I think he is wrong.

[gordonsveg]

I would rather see the amount of alcohol in alcoholic drinks reduced, if going to the pub is a "social thing" why do you need 5% in beer,13% in wine and up to or over 50% in spirits?
     When was the last time somebody had a f*g or two too many got in the car and killed a person or went home and kicked the sxxx out of their family.

[shirlton]

I gave up 3 years ago cos I developed COPD. I had smoked heavily for 40 years. Not only that but I had retired and couldn't really afford to finance my habit. Tony has never smoked since I met him. To be honest I don''t know how he put up with it for so long cos the smell alone gets to me now. Don't get me wrong I still fancy one sometimes but I now have the strength to resist. I don't know how I feel about the ban if I was well and wealthy. I would probably say s*d it and carry on

[gordonsveg]

On the tv (i forget which side) it was said the government collects BILLIONS in tobacco revenue, if everybody stops smoking you watch your taxes go up.
there is no way the NHS is going to save that amount of money, most smokers probably pay NI anyway.

     P.S
    I stopped smoking in april this year because i was fed up with giving this hypocritical (smoking allowed in houses of parliment) government some of my hard earned pension. Its a struggle but i`m winning thanks to my wife.;

[ACE]

As a really heavy smoker, I will be giving up drinking in pubs. I know it is easy to give up smoking, (I've done it hundreds of times) but I like a smoke and now I would not benefit if I stopped. I would get fatter, rattier and I suppose I would live longer as a useless old man.

I still reckon it s part of Tesco's scheme to take over the world. We will all be buying our booze in their stores to consume at home. Then every other advert on the telly will be  'Get booze and ciggies here and we will donate an iron lung to the NHS.

I still need convincing that second hand smoke is harmful. My wife has been a passive smoker all her life, with no ill effects. She reacts badly to cats, but she would be reported if she refused to go into somebodies house that owns one. But she could refuse to go to a smokers house and nothing would happen.

Todays national health service is in dire straits, just imagine what it would have been like in the sixties, when the tax on tobacco kept it going.

Baked beans and and other wind producing food will be banned next and fat bar stewards will have to stay at home after eating.

[veggiewomble]

Am I one of the few on A4A who is genuinely really pleased about the smoking ban?  ;D

Couldn't wait for it. At last we can eat in restaurants without having smoke blown into our food and faces by the nice, thoughtful smokers at the next table. People talk about smoker's rights, but there are responsibilities that come with rights -- sadly, people behave with such inconsideration these days that one has no choice but to hope for a legislative ban as the only way to stop them. :(

vw

[ACE]

Most restaurants have had a no smoking policy for a few years now. So why did you go to ones that don't.  I thought that should have been enough for the  non smokers.

Ask any smoker on this forum if they smoke in restaurants. The answer will be no, and as for blowing smoke in peoples faces, you must have been eating at some low life dives.

[greyhound]

Well said Ace.

[veggiewomble]

Good grief!!!

Low life dives?? Try most restaurants in London.

If you want to go to somewhere non-smoking in London, chances are it'll be a Pizza Hut or KFC!!

You may not smoke in restaurants but there are plenty of people who do, and will even blow smoke in your direction when your OH brings out an inhaler because it has given them asthma problems. It is unfortunate that it requires legislation and government interference but obviously there are plenty of people out there who need to be forced to behave considerately.

vw

[Oldmanofthewoods]

Give up driving and I'll give up fags.  I have absolutely no say in most of the country being given up to motor cars/roads/car parks and out of town shopping malls.   When I mention it, people look at me as if i am insane. 

Rant over - it's probably because i need a f*g - sorry.

Jack

[timiano]

Personally I'm over the moon!

The boozer now smells a bit sweaty/musty, but that won't damage the health of my lungs. I'd say about 95% of the folk that frequent our boozer have took the ban fairly well, all be it with much grumbling up until last Saturday. As a result, everyone is smoking less, spending less money, and most agree that it's not that much of an inconvenience popping outside for a 'cigarette break'. Some have even decided to quit, claiming that the hardest hurdle for giving up previously was smoking in the pub.

Our boozer is no busier or quieter as of yet, so I can't see there being a problem. It 'is' a nicer place to be in now, and no more worries over 2nd hand smoke for punters and staff, which can only be a good thing.

It's one of the best laws brought in during my lifetime. If you want to smoke, don't do it near me.

[Baccy Man]

There is a website which describes itself as a haven for smokers and non-smokers who believe in freedom of choice which may be of some interest.
http://www.forestonline.org

The smoking ban has been in effect since the 2nd April in Wales I haven't been to the pub (which was always smoke free anyway as they have high quality extractor fans) for a drink since it came in. I used to be there virtually every night, now I sit at home drinking homebrew & smoking instead.
I have no intention of giving up smoking. I don't have a financial incentive as I grow my own tobacco at a cost of £0.02 per ounce so there would be no significant saving. Anyone who knows me agrees that the health benefits are are not an incentive in my case and I can't think of any other reason why I should give up one of the few pleasures I do have.

[timiano]

Hi

We have the same "high quality" extractor fans, and while they do "a job", they certainly don't make the place smoke free. I do feel sympathy for fellahs who've been in the boozer for all their life having a smoke and a beer, as it is a big change. But, it is a necesary one, and one that in the future will be thought nothing of. I can't see what the problem with nipping outside for a smoke is that would prevent so many from not enjoying the social aspect of the pub.

When I used to smoke, I used to go the pub for a beer and the company. When I gave up, admittedly I had to stay away for a month, as I'd have failed. But, I still go there for the beer and people, maybe the other way around if I'm totally honest.

[cornykev]

I'm with you on this one Tim and Womble, a few of my mates are grumbling about going outside, but they are in and out of the pub all night on them poxy mobiles so have a f*g while on the mobile, (double dose.)  ???

[kenkew]

Once upon a time pubs had 'Tap-rooms.' A male only environment...that went under the hammer with the intro of the sex discrimination act and pool tables, and along with it went the social side of what a pub is really all about.

I don't want to sit in my local at a table next to another one with a load of screaming kids spilling 'pop' and crisps all over the place and running around as though it were a playground, thank you very much. (OK, not all of them do it but just one is one too many).

If it's a 'smoking pub' and people don't want that, then go somewhere else, if it's a teen pub with high decibel 'music' and you don't want that, then go somewhere else, if it's a non-smoking pub and you want to smoke, then go some-where else. But for goodness sake, shouldn't pubs be run according to Landlord not government rules? Doesn't the Landlord know his local clientel best, and what they prefere and what is best to keep him in business and the pub running?
  Why not a smoking room if the pub is big enough? (Once upon a time we had a kids area...these days you have to dodge around them to get to the bar.)
  People talk about smoking infront of kids as a bad example and could even be called abuse. I say taking kids into pubs has a far more long term bad effect.

And people who don't relize that you don't have to shout into a mobile phone should be made to stand outside in the rain to use it.

[keef]

Our boozer is no busier or quieter as of yet, so I can't see there being a problem. It 'is' a nicer place to be in now, and no more worries over 2nd hand smoke for punters and staff, which can only be a good thing.

After only one night of the ban - probably a little too early to tell dont you think..

[asbean]

I know that in a restaurant if I had the choice of sitting opposite a smoker or a breastfeeding mother I know which I would choose. I have never had smoke "blown into my face" by neighbouring diners - or anyone else at any other time for that matter, but I have been poked in the ribs by a child who wandered over from the other side of the restaurant, and on another occasion a child sneezed on my leg.  No wonder I avoid "family friendly" eateries.