No Smoking
I have to say – my occasional libertarian leanings mean I was not a huge fan of the smoking ban in Philadelphia’s bars and restaurants when it was initiated, but I have learned to love it.
I’m not a smoker, and never have been, but it has little to do with that. What I like about the ban is that, as a father and a beer lover, I can now enter bars and restaurants across the city and the world with my children to taste great beers without compromising the little ones’ health. Truth be told, many of the best beer bars in the world used to be dark, smoky places you wouldn’t bring your kids (or, for that matter, your parents) to. Now they may still be dark, but at least they are no longer smoky.
Fortunately for me, many destinations across the world have followed suit, including Munich and the UK, two destinations I’ve been to recently of late, as have perennial smoking havens such as Ireland and Italy. A perfect example is the Union Inn, picture in this earlier post. This is the kind of wood-panelled pub which previously would have had a haze of smoke floating throughout the establishment, but which is now quite kid (and lung) friendly. Even better, I didn’t have to leave my clothes in the living room to air out when I got home.
image from Wikimedia, Robert Aleck, www.cynexia.com
I completely agree. There are many places that qualify as bars – and I don’t mean dive bars – where, save for the smoking, I would definitely take my children. The Union League is a great example.
But the smoking? On more than one occasion, I had to pick up and go with my family when the smokers arrived.
And, for all that the bar owners initially complained about the ban, most of the ones that we know like it. For one, a number of customers are sticking around rather than leaving… I’ll never forget going with friends to happy hour at a local restaurant. Our plans were loads of margaritas and then dinner. There were about five of us – some of which are social smokers.
Enter “chain smoking man” who set up shop, smoking nonstop in the small bar area. He ordered one beer which he nursed for about an hour. When we finished up our rounds of margaritas, we left the bar because it had grown so terribly smoky. The bar probably lost well over $100 that night for one lousy smoker whose tab probably reached $5.