Anti-smoking laws???????

[Jan Saunders]

Is anyone else as frustrated as I am over the implementation of the Anti-smoking laws. These laws introduced in January 2006 are a complete waste of time. In essence, bar and restaurant owners were given a choice - if their premises were less than 100 sq m. That was the mistake.
Restaurant and bar owners see that as an opportunity to interpret the law in the manner best suited to them. Bars less than 100 m opt for smoking, so they should refuse entry to anyone under 18 - not the case. It is commonplace to see parents with young babies in smoke filled bars.
Large restaurants say they are no-smoking but if anyone asks for an ashtray one is often provided. I have had complaints met with a shrug. "Paco has been coming here for years, he likes to smoke"
why is the law not enforced. I have decided to ask for the complaints book each time I see the law being flouted. If everyone did this and a few bars were fined we might see a change.

[gerryh]

I'm a non smoker, don't like the smell etc.
Can't say I've noticed the law being flouted in the places I visit, mainly in the Nerja to Rincon de la Victoria area.
It surprised me that the law isn't flouted.
Cheers
Gerry

[katy]

Last time I was in Madrid airport a man came in one of the glass area smoking booths with a toddler.

Many are ignoring it, particularly small places. Doesn't help when you can see Policemen smoking in public places.

[Jan Saunders]

Take a look in the large new restaurant in La Vinuella. They have a flimsy fabric screen dividing the restaurant - smokers one side non-smokers the other, no extraction fans. Completely flouting the law but nothing is done about it. The toilets are in the smokers section so you have to go into it to use them. I would love to know where you eat as I find it hard to finsd a non-smoking restaurant in the are you suggest.

[JAR1972]

It's not the only law which gets flouted in Spain...

[ICCSL]

Spain is much more laid back than the UK and this is why a lot of us came over here. I would hate to see this country go the way of the UK. I have a bar and it is less than 100m2 therefore we had the choice as to whether it became a smoking bar or not. Since 99% of the clientele smoke it was not hard to make the decision. We are way inland in a small farming community and a lot of the Spanish bring their children to the bar despite the fact that there are notices everywhere stating that no one under eighteen is allowed in. If we enforced the law we would lose quite a lot of our custom. The Brits in the area object in any event to children being in the bar but considering that 85% of our clientele is Spanish we tell the Brits that they are welcome to use another bar if they wish.

The Guardia Civil also use our bar and ignore the fact that there are children in when clearly they shouldn't be. If we or they enforced the law our bar would shut because there wouldn't be enough custom to keep it open. Everyone would just move on to a bar where they didn't enforce the law and there are two other bars in our village. In an adjoining town several bars have closed due to enforcement of the law so the remaining ones are not enforcing it.

However in most restaurants in the area, they are enforcing the no smoking laws.

Spain is not like the UK either in terms of what would happen if you didn't uphold the law. You might get a small fine or a slap on the wrists but you wouldn't be shut down.

My view is that if you don't like what is happening in a bar or restaurant then you should use one that is more to your liking. If you complain officially you will probably find that the bar or restaurant will eventually close hence there will be very few places for you to go in any event. The other option for bars/restaurants is to change their licence to private clubs in which case they can do virtually what they like and then you would be refused membership or entry making even less places for you to go.

It may be of interest to non smokers that not one death has ever been registered as a direct result of passive smoking despite an advertising campaign in the UK which attempts to convince people otherwise.

[Campo Kenny]

A lot of sense in that post............one of the things I'm dreading to come into force there is the crazy "food hygene" laws we suffer in the UK.

When they stop hanging hams off the ceiling in the bar and are banned from displaying tapas as they are here then I'm off. We bought a place there purely because it was different

Kenny

[peteroldracer]

Are you still off the dreaded weed Kenny?

[Campo Kenny]

Was doing great then my dad and my father in law passed away within days of each other a few weeks back...........what a bad time.
Stupid I know but my mind said "sod it" and I started again after all that time.
Jacked in again last week............I know I'm a failure but I won't lie, and I will crack it, but the last month or two has been hellish.

Cheers,

Kenny

[katy]

Kenny, lots of us have "been there"..we will crack it one day
Tina I agree about passive smoking, posted on here about it before. My OH doesn't smoke and find it just annoying but he doesn't believe it is a killer.

[alaninspain]

JAR1972 - would you care to explain your posting in more detail?

[costapacket]

We live in the UK and think the smoking ban in pubs has been a bit hit. On a recent trip to Spain we really noticed the difference and would now actively seek out non-smoking bars. My husband is an asthmatic so this does influence us a lot.

[scarlet]

JAN SAUNDERS. I hope not to many uk moaning minnies are coming here. most of us like spain because it is more laid back and not a nanny state, many spanish smoke, how you have the cheek to mention it when in a spanish bar or restaurant amazes me. when I was visiting the uk, I was told off in the street for smoking, what a cheek,, chill out and stop complaining about smoking, there a lot more important things to moan about.

[costapacket]

Sorry Scarlet I may have you mixed up with someone else but weren't you sick of Spain and wanting to move on?

[ICCSL]

I tried chewing gum and gave it up because it wasn't very nice smoking whilst chewing it. I then tried acupuncture and it took me a whole week to get the needle out of my ear - when I tried to smoke it felt like I was taking gulps of fresh air so the needle had to go. Then I tried the patches which did actually work very well for a week but a side effect of the patches is nightmares which I had all of the time. The doctor said that I should take the patches off at night which then defeated the object because the first thing you want to do in the morning is have a cigarette.

I believe I would have to be locked in a room for a month or two and thrown food periodically to stop smoking. I try to convince myself that the stress of my life won't allow me to stop but I guess a lack of willpower is really the root cause.

[oliveview01]

Two of the most popular bars here are non smoking- the bar owners have had no problem with dwindling customers.
I choose to go into non smoking bars- what I objext to is the Spanish neighbour coming into my house and lighting up! He just does not take the hint that we object!! Even telling him not to smoke is ignored, he kindly bought us down an ashtray as we did not have any
Oliveview01

[ken2]

i rolled me own for over 50 years,then in November 2006 i had a heart attach, spent 5 weeks in hospital having a triple by pass,the thing is, i had tried to pack up about a dozen times in me life, no good with in three days i was back on them, the thing is if you enjoy a smoke, its hard to stop,well they must of done something to me in that 5 weeks ,cos i didn't even fancy one, and have never smoked since, but sorry you none smokers, i love going into a bar and smelling the smokers, ha ha don't want one but love to see them smoking, don't honestly think at my age its doing any good me not smoking, surely after fifty years the damage is done,but me young family are so pleased with me, i dare not start ,even if i wanted to ,but i don't

[masterob]

ICCL wrote

It may be of interest to non smokers that not one death has ever been registered as a direct result of passive smoking despite an advertising campaign in the UK which attempts to convince people otherwise.

One highly publicized victim of cancer due to passive smoke inhalation was the entertainer and TV presenter Roy Castle who had never smoked but had worked in smoky rooms.

[scarlet]

COSTA PACKET. yes I am fed up with spain, like many others, but I do not see what that has got to do with my opinion on smoking here in spain.
What is the problem with you people who are in the nazi movement andalucia.com amigos, you have massive chips on your shoulder and think you know everything, its very boring, I have an image of the males in this group as being in their 60s, sitting all day on this forum in big baggy slightly grey big baggy y fronts, with bulbous red noses and cheeks from too much cheap wine, scratching their nuts, you need baggy y fronts as that is where you keep your little brains. I expect the moderator will remove this , but hey who cares.

[JAR1972]

At least we can scratch our nuts here, unlike Italy where it's illegal, although I'm sure if there was a law against it here we'd ignore it all the same...