Damn anti smoking fanatics! Bars can't serve food and allow smoking? WTF!

[Asher]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Gay bars are different.

Yes, in so far as the gay community smokes more per capita than the straight community. Good call, Sloww.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Bars here are pretty much exempt from the tyranny.

Not even the casinos are exempt here.


Asher - There were bar casualties.

[SlowwHand]

@ Asher.

[Spec]

Smoking in bars and club is illegal now in Quebec since 30th of may 2006. I'm a smoker and I'm glad that law passed.

Spec.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Wezil
Not even the casinos are exempt here.


Asher - There were bar casualties.

There are bar casualties all the time.

Places cease to be trendy at a certain time, and they die.

I find it hard to believe smokers stop going out to clubs at night simply because they have to smoke outside...

[Wezil]

Don't be obtuse.

There were bar casualties directly connected to anti-smoking laws.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Wezil
Don't be obtuse.

There were bar casualties directly connected to anti-smoking laws.

I really find that hard to believe.

You're to tell me that all these social people who frequent bars all stopped going so they can sit and smoke at home?

I'll need some evidence if I'm going to believe this, and I'm going to also have to see bar revenue on a city-wide scale before and after...because if anecdotal evidence holds, bars are busier now than before (gay and straight).

[DRoseDARs]

I think a good way for the places affected by smoking bans to bring back the whining smokers is to offer patrons nicotine patches/gum to get them through their visit.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Asher

I really find that hard to believe.

You're to tell me that all these social people who frequent bars all stopped going so they can sit and smoke at home?

I'll need some evidence if I'm going to believe this, and I'm going to also have to see bar revenue on a city-wide scale before and after...because if anecdotal evidence holds, bars are busier now than before (gay and straight).

I don't have access to their private financial records but..

Lulu's in Kitchener specifically referred to the law there (one of the first jurisdictions in Ontario to do so btw) as the final straw for their business.

I'm one smoker that goes out considerably less now than before and the sole reason is lack of smoking. I'm unusual but not that unusual.

Not so hard to believe if you smoke.

[Asher]

Lulu's in Kitchener specifically referred to the law there (one of the first jurisdictions in Ontario to do so btw) as the final straw for their business.

As the "final straw"? Sounds like they had other problems and this was a convenient scapegoat.

[Jon Miller]

I haven't observed bars losing patrons. I just see bars with huge numbers that shift out every 30-60 minutes to smoke.

JM

[Asher]

The whole thing is a joke. This has happened to cities all around the world and the bar scenes are still thriving.

Even in Kitchener-Waterloo I've had trouble finding places that don't have lines to get in.

If your bar is failing in a small city with that university students from two major universities and a handful of community colleges, you've got far bigger problems than the fact that no bar in the region allows smoking inside.

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by DRoseDARs
I think a good way for the places affected by smoking bans to bring back the whining smokers is to offer patrons nicotine patches/gum to get them through their visit.

No, the way to go is to hold non-smokers down and blow shotgun hits in their faces.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Asher

As the "final straw"? Sounds like they had other problems and this was a convenient scapegoat.

Sorry, went out for a smoke.

Sure, Lulu's had many of the issues you mentioned earlier to deal with but they were surviving. It was the economic damage done by the non-smoking law that put them under.

Quite simply, business is in business to make money. If going nonsmoking was profitable then they (bars and restaurants) would not have to be forced to go smoke free. They would follow the dollars and do so willingly.

There are many reasons and arguments for such bans but let's be honest about the economics of it.

[DRoseDARs]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
No, the way to go is to hold non-smokers down and blow shotgun hits in their faces.

Last I checked, making such violent statements was frowned upon here.