WOW, Ireland bans smoking in pubs!

Jaysus - I've heard it all now!

I do wish that they would, instead of banning ALL pubs across the board, try to wean people off by designating half of the pubs as smoking and the other half as non-smoking and see how that goes for a while. For those workers who are employed in smoking bars well HELLO get another job if you don't want to be around cigarette smoke! There has been no-one forcing any of them to work in these places - if they are so concerned and object so much they should not be there!

I know when they first banned smoking on planes, buses and trains people were angry. It was very difficult to enforce it especially on buses because some of those smoking yobbos were frightening characters! I know of a lot of people who will no longer go to pubs if they cannot smoke. Plus I know a lot who will enjoy going out more because they do not smoke. In my family of 7 only 2 of us smoke. That 70% non-smoking figure could be right!

I liked the comment ''What will they do next -- ban the drink from the pub because the alcohol's no good for you?"

I am afraid that such a measure may transform pubs into extinct species...

Actually, when this was published the first time (in November last year), the Irish minister for health, Micheal Martin, said, the ban on smoking in pubs will apply when food is actually being serviced.

Smoking ban for Irish eateries

Well, then the smart pub-owners may find a way out of difficult situation: they may serve to their visitors only beer and other drinks, while permitting to bring snacks from home. People come to the pubs not to eat, but to socialize, and smoking is a part of socializing habits of male smokers that are majority of the pubs' clients.

It could be worse. What if they banned booze? b

Since this works in many European restaurants, I really don't see such a problem.

Well, they may serve whiskey or vodka with alcohol removed by vacuum drying instead...

Who would go to a "dry" tavern in Ireland? Not the Irish!

Vacuum drying? Brings to mind those powdered drinks.

Ah sure we could get our glass of dried vodka, stand outside the door, let the rain fill the glass, mix with an unlit cigarette and sip away!

OK. But if I can do this outside the pub, why should I enter it? The pub owners will lose profits in such a case, and traditional Irish pub will disappear...

Maybe they could provide outdoor seating and brollies so we can bring our drinks and ciggies with us. Wouldn't that be a hoot?

Outdoors? Hmm, as far as I know, climate in Ireland is much colder than in Florida or California.

Hence the brolly requirement

The climate of Ireland is cooler than Florida or California. It doesn't get really cold there, as it doesn't get really hot. It does rain a hell of a lot. I am reminded by Heeven's suggestion of the old days, when pubs had a bar (men only) and a lounge (mixed crowd). Those days may well have passed, although this was quite common in the west country in the 1970's when last i was there. What i noted about the serving food requirement is the damage it could do to the "special license" places. When i was there in the 70's, pubs closed at half eleven; but there were clubs out in the countryside which had special licenses, and they would serve an obligatory meal (a dollop of potatoes, one of peas, and the leg of the smallest chicken you have ever seen), and then reopen the bar from one until three a.m. There would be entertainment, usually a band, and the heavy drinkers from town who weren't ready to stop for the night would show up and "buy" the meal (at five punt, it was highway robbery), which everyone knew was really the cover charge. Most of these places would turn a blind eye to those who brought a quart of beer or porter with them. If it is only places that serve food in which smoking would be banned, this would truly be a hardship for the "special license" clubs.

Actually I don't know the Irish but only the Scottish and English pub life of the time, you mentioned, Sentana (and some years earlier as well):
- In an Inn establishment which offers bed and breakfast, the public bar is advertised as open to the general public.
- a Lounge or lounge Bar is the best kept room in the house, often with a carpet and some soft chairs, you could take a woman for a drink in here. This is the most expensively furnished area of the pub.
- the Salloon or Salloon Bar is the noisy room which is open all day (during times allowed),
- Cocktail Bar / Cocktail Lounge is a small bar, where they only mix drinks, and don't serve draught beers. Usually only in nightclubs, hotels or very large or town pubs,
- Resident's Bar seems to be what you were talking about: in an Inn or hotel establishment which offers accommodation, this bar stays open for the residents only, and their guests, after the main bar ( or public bar ) has closed to the public.

Well when I was home in September we went to a pub which has it's restaurant upstairs (completely separate floor) and we couldn't smoke there. Downstairs there was the bar and the lounge - two separate rooms. The bar is for the aul fellas (as we call them) and the lounge is for mixed company. Since the lounge was full, we went to sit in the bar and the looks we got from the men was awful. I sat down and a man promptly made a snide remark (as this particular crowd do - remember this is home for me so I know these people well) and I told him to shut his pie-hole and behave or I'd crack him a fine one!

Ah I miss that!

I'd have liked to see the dust up, Heeven. I walked into a pub in Tierny (population 12, 18 on weekends) once, and when i went into the bar, my glasses steamed up, so i took them off and was promptly blind. There was someone with blond, curly hair wavin' to me, so i got a pint and went over. Imagine my surprise to see a woman sittin' there. She said she'd seen on the bus, and would i mind if she bought me a few pints (honest to God, an' i almost fell off my chair). Then, she suddenly half-turned, and said: "Michael Conroy (not the real name, changed to protect the witless), if you don't stop sneerin' at me, an' tryin' to peek down the front of me jumper, i'll knock ya into the middle of next week!" Every man in the placed quickly turned back to their pints, and in a moment, conversation resumed as if she weren't there. No details will be forthcoming, but we had a wonderful evening. What this also reminds me of, is how much the men in the bar are likely the proverbial stereotype of a group of old women--gossiping, tut-tutting, staring at and talkin' about everyone else in the place . . .

hmmmmmmmm
a wonderful time

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

An you was all of twenty years old at the time, an' away in college. This was more than twenty years before we knew one another . . . ya big bully . . .