having been a smoker for many years -although i keep trying to give up- i thoroughly approve of being able to smoke in the spanish bars. they have signs on the doors letting you know about the policy and then the non-smokers have the choice of whether to use that particular bar or not. in the same way that smokers have the choice not to use a bar that wont allow smoking.
workers would also know what they were getting into, and could make a lifestyle choice as to whether they wanted to work at that establishment or not.
i was a publican for many years, and had a no smoking section in my restaurant long before the laws came in over here.i believe that people should be given the right to choose for themselves.
it is a fact of life that since the smoking ban trade has gone down in the vast majority of traditional pubs by figures ranging from 10-40%. the only pubs getting any real benefit are the ones that cater primarily for foodies rather than drinkers.
in my view, the laws over here were enacted wrongly.it is all very well protecting workers rights, but the government did not look at all potential problems ie publicans going bankrupt with the loss of jobs,the number of people stood outside pubs having a smoke and the resultant litter,and the fact that non-smokers would still have to walk through a smoke cloud to get into a smoke free pub.
a bit of common sense when the laws were passed, or even a review(like they are doing with cannabis) to ensure the law was a good one -like happened in spain-would go a long way to making this country a happier place.
just because something is not good for us,should not mean that the government must legislate to ban it.will they ban the sale of alcohol;close down the kebab shops;ban us from cutting the grass in summer or growing any pollen bearing plants etc
we will not all agree on this issue, but i for one think that the spanish way on this issue is much more sensible than ours.
