Scotland Smoking Ban

[Loosehead]

Anyone in Scotland, what's it like? are there masses of downtrodden smokers huddling in groups outside the bars?

[SKY250]

Yeah Loosehead and the fact that its been raining heavily doesn't help. Glad i'm not a smoker but my mother in-law is and she loves bingo usually doesn't miss it but totally refused to go yesterday as she couldn't smoke. It was quite funny though last night when we drove by local pub and everyone was getting wet. Give it a few weeks of this people will go mad. But on the bright side thats 6 people at my work quit so not all bad.

[kick3m0n]

Apparently B&Q and similar large DIY places have virtually sold out of outdoor patio ehaters, garden chairs etc, as pubs try desperately to set up a wee smoking area outside. LMAO...it's pishing down here today. A lot of work places have been non smokign for a whiel up here, adn many other places (cafes etc) have been non smoking since teh legislation got passed. I hoep it's a success. Can't see it really putting us Scots off our drink, and pub culture rules up here. Be nice to not come back home smelling of fags (then head out to the garden for a joint ;o))

[SKY250]

Kick3mon i agree i'm not a smoker and like to go for a drink now and again but hated coming home smelling of smoke are you a smoker. Surely we ain't that fond of a drink to put up with getting soaked.Think i answered my own question. ;-)

[B00]

I'm a smoker and I think I can say that for many of us this won't put us off- we've spent many years huddled under any kind of shelter we can find in pouring rain and gale force 10 winds!

[nedflanders]

I hope all the ones that are still smoking outside get pnuemonia! Serve them right for inflicting their filth on me for the last 15 years!

[jump79]

I'm not a smoker, but .....ouch!

[kick3m0n]

I'm an occasional smoker SKY, but not the sort of stuff you could light up in a pub even pre-smoking ban. Would never inflict my smoke on others anyway, hence out to the garden or garage for a wee puff if the weathers inclement.

[SKY250]

I'm a little confused about the fines i heard that if you get caught then the people who issue the �50 fines are allowed to follow you home if you refuse to give them your name or give false name. Then again i have also heard that the police are not going to inforce this fine. What is the true case.

[geo0939]

I think the first real test will come this weekend when the younger smokers are out and about. Smoker or or non-smoker, (and I've been both) you've got to feel sorry for the poor wet souls.

[Drisgirl]

I'm with kick.sky and ned.I'm pig sick of coming home reeking of smoke and coughing and spluttering for days.I used to smoke - gave up 4 yrs ago and I despise myself for inflicting that on others.My only saving grace was I gave up both times I was preganat and for about a year after - mug started socially smoking again.Didnt work for me.O theyre all moaning and lamenting but they'll soon get used to it.Its not the Police who are monitoring it- although they will get involved if someone refuses to stop and then leave the premises.Just like Eire we have enforcers who will just drop into pubs dressed casually to see how the land lies.I have spoken to a couple of publican pals and they say there is no danger they are going to potentially lose their licence over someone beaking the law smoking a fag.I think each publican will police it themselves.

[Gef]

Dris if you were pigsick coming home smelling of smoke why didn't you go to a non-smoking pub - it was your choice.

[Drisgirl]

Gef - I live in a small town and there wasnt a non smoking pub.Here- its not the metropolis where I live:)

I wasnt the only one who said they didnt like the smell of smoke on them - I assume that was just a minor detail that you omitted the names of the others on this site who passed comment or was I just the sofest one to have a jibe at?

Moi paranoid? Never!!Not on AB anyway:)

Hellish having an opinion and someone telling you what you should have done.There was no vote to ban smoking in Scotland - its the law!!!

Used to it - paranoid me?Never:)

[Drisgirl]

oops - forget last line - must have forgotten to delete - half an eye on the tele you know what its like:) O and it was softest not sofiest (did you think I was some big couch)!

[mightyWBA]

Are there hoards of big hairy Scotsmen(and women),kilts and sporrans flapping,rampaging into Carlisle and Berwick upon Tweed, just like the good old days.Only this time instead of a bloody great big sword they are carrying a packet of B&H,or what?

[Drisgirl]

LOL @ WBA - mind you just might happen once the withdrawals hit them.Get Hadrians Wall re-built pronto:)

[THECORBYLOON]

Dris, they can re-build the Wall wi all the thousands of ashtrays they no longer need in the pubs......

[heathfield]

Well, before the ban, newspapers reported widely that some 80% of people interviewed were fairly sympathetic toward smokers, and considered it sufficient if a room in a pub were set aside for them.

The brewers issued petition forms to pubs. The completed forms showed that a majority of pub-goers agreed with the above. The Scottish Executive rejected the petition on the grounds that it was biased!!!

I note too that the BBC TV reports have all been glowingly positive about peoples' reaction to the ban. Everyone seems overjoyed, and not a single disgruntled interviewee. They want to come down to MY pub and interview the landlord and the customers - they'd tell them different!

Funny, isn't it? There are those who say that the ban in Eire has had no effect whatsoever on pub trade. Others report hundreds of pubs shut, thousands out of work. Someone is telling porkies....

[Gef]

Sorry Dris, I didn't mean to sound as if I was picking on you - yours was the last post before mine, that's all.

Anyway I think you missed my point. I can only think of one no-smoking pub in Glasgow (before the ban) and it was never that busy.

I'll just have to do with smoking on the couch now. Are you free? :-)

[Drisgirl]

Well gef I come at a small price but I do extras:)Like hand you the remote and get your beer (what were you thinking:))

TCL-LOL wait till it hits England next year.Then you'll know about earache.You thought the Poll Tax was bad!!!

heathfield - a few pubs shut down but according to the Landlord of the pub my husband goes to he says they probably would have shut down anyway (in Eire).

I think on a serious note that the main issue is being missed.This ban is designed to help our future generations by making smoking less acceptable and by continuing to educate them about the dangers.Maybe just maybe our wee P1's wont even contemplate fags when they are teenagers.We should really lead by example.To my chagrin - my daughter smokes and she was brought up seeing me smoke - monkey see monkey do.

[nedflanders]

heathfield, the ban is also to protect the 1,000 scots non smokers who die each year due to smoking related illness's, some of which I am sure would work in pubs and have to enter smoke infested "smoking rooms". Do you think 1,000 innocent deaths a year is acceptable just so some selfish git can have a smoke in public?