Are venues/clubs/bars that have gone smoke free the new normal?

Thumpinshelton

Thumpinshelton

Apr 10, 2010
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Northern Indiana/Nashville,TN
#1
Ok, so let me start by saying this up front. I am not a smoker and never really was (experimented as a teen). I know a lot of businesses have gone smoke free altogether and this includes a lot of bars that host live bands. What is it like in your area? I lived in Nashville and was pretty active in the local honky-tonk scene when they passed the laws that made them smoke free. Of course there was a HUGE fear of lost revenue, but I never noticed a drop from my perspective. What is your area like? I myself prefer smoke free, but for petty reasons! The BIGGEST being that I don't like my clothes and gear smelling of smoke. What are your thoughts?
 
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#2
Here in PA, you can still smoke in bars if you make less than some percentage of your profits from food sales. I want to say 50%, but I don't know for sure. Bars that are technically hotels (there are quite a few, I don't know if that's a thing in other places) can't have any smoking, and private clubs can smoke all they want regardless of how much they make in food. As far as I can tell there are 0 bars that have gone non-smoking, either voluntarily, or as a result of having too much food sales. Its pretty lame. I much prefer playing in non-smoking venues, and nobody seems to care. Some of the best bars we play are non-smoking, and it doesn't seem to effect their business at all.

I never really understood the argument that sales would be lost. Smoker's aren't used to going outside the rest of their lives? I used to smoke, it was still nicer to play in non-smoking bars, and I never smoked in my own house. That stuff stinks.
 
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#3
In florida it is also less than 50 percent food revenue then smoking is allowed. I think all the service clubs and lodges in my area have gone smoke free. Years ago a big restaurant put in a big tiki bar for the smokers. We play a lot of tiki bars/restaurants so the smoking is not an issue. I think we have one indoor place on our circuit that has smoking. There was one place that cut out bands that used to be very bad with smoke. On the way home one time we were all hacking. I don't smoke.
 
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#5
Hi,

Since the mid-90s the whole state of California is smoke-free inside public buildings, bars, clubs, restaurants, etc. Lately, in many outdoor areas smoking is also banned. Smokers have "smoking zones" outside in many public areas. Smoking is prohibited within 20 feet of most entrance/exit doors. I'm an ex-smoker. The smoke in the clubs rarely bothered me unless it was really bad. I just hated going home with everything smelling like an ash tray.

The club/bar scene seems to have acclimated. Most have an outdoor patio area where the smokers go to light up. Sure, some smaller places have gone away but others have taken their place. There are still plenty of places to play if you have a good product and can sell it properly.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
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#8
BassCliff said:
Hi,

Since the mid-90s the whole state of California is smoke-free inside public buildings, bars, clubs, restaurants, etc. Lately, in many outdoor areas smoking is also banned. Smokers have "smoking zones" outside in many public areas. Smoking is prohibited within 20 feet of most entrance/exit doors. I'm an ex-smoker. The smoke in the clubs rarely bothered me unless it was really bad. I just hated going home with everything smelling like an ash tray.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
Click to expand...

Cliff just barely beat me to the California response. :thumbsup:
 
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#9
Massachusetts is pretty much smoke-free, and predictions of the death of bars, etc., proved premature. Smokers know to step outside to light up. About half the places we play have enclosed patios where cigars are just fine. Marijuana is legal here, but "social consumption" (smoking in a public place) is still not allowed.

I have been an advocate of no-smoking in clubs since the night way back when, when there was so much smoke it got into my sweat, which then dripped into my eyes and burned, burned, burned. (At the same time shocking myself on a non-grounded microphone--a real Dante rings-of-hell experience!).
 
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#10
Clubs in St Louis are smoke free for the most part, some smaller bars are holding on, but they have the same 4 regulars and will likely not make it much longer anyway.

charlie monroe said:
Erie County, NY went smoke free in 1996.

It did, in fact, kill the local bar business.

I would estimate half of the corner bars have closed since then.
Click to expand...

I'd probably argue its more the aging of the general populace, economic malaise, and general population decline that did in those kinds of small Upstate bars, rather than smoking laws. DUI laws? Big impact. Smoking laws? I have not seen major drop offs, and in two cases (Florida and DC) the nightlife bounced back significantly. At least until the recession. Post- recession the 20 somethings that go out aren't smoking tobacco in the same numbers or at the same rates as previous generations. They don;t even realize it hasn;t always been this way.

As a former restaurant server who worked the smoking sections, its a double edged sword. On one hand, smokers generally tipped better, but I hated how I smelled and felt after those shifts.
 
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#11
They did it here in Michigan about 10 years ago.

In the area I lived in at the time, most of the bars were out of business within a year---there were other factors, but that was the final straw.

I have however, been in some small "dives" that just ignore the law and seem to be doing fine.
 
#12
Here in my part of Pennsylvania, most of the venues have gone smoke free and their business has gotten much better than when they permitted smoking. We only play a couple clubs that still have smoking and they are thinking about going smoke free in the near future.
 
#13
Bars and clubs have been smoke-free in Montreal since 2006. It shouldn't have taken so long. When I think back to the nights I spent playing and DJing in smokey bars I honestly wonder how I was able to do it. A lot of people seem to think that the ban has been largely responsible for the drop in the number of patrons at bars and clubs but I don't buy it. I think the internet, online socializing and the virtually endless options for home entertainment have much more to do with the decline than any smoking restrictions. But if I'm wrong and the smoking ban is the reason bars and clubs are in such rough shape these days... Well, I'll take fewer gigs over blackened lungs any day. :)
 
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#14
Thumpinshelton said:
Ok, so let me start by saying this up front. I am not a smoker and never really was (experimented as a teen). I know a lot of businesses have gone smoke free altogether and this includes a lot of bars that host live bands. What is it like in your area? I lived in Nashville and was pretty active in the local honky-tonk scene when they passed the laws that made them smoke free. Of course there was a HUGE fear of lost revenue, but I never noticed a drop from my perspective. What is your area like? I myself prefer smoke free, but for petty reasons! The BIGGEST being that I don't like my clothes and gear smelling of smoke. What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...


I believe it's more of a State by State thing on whether or not smoking is allowed.

I was always surprised no one pressed OSHA into responding to smoking with regards to employees? Any other business when someone has to work in an area with the same definition of something like cigarette smoke, masks must be worn.

Always surprised that restaurants mandated employees to work in the smoking area that was NOT dilineated by a separate room. Not sure how that was legal, OSHA people?

I stopped playing indoors before they started banning smoking. Dry cleaning bill was money out of my pocket and wasn't appreciated, but eventually I passed that on to the venues.

Giving thought to going out again because of the new rules.

Still don't play $ drink or beer nights. Don't miss the Blues Brothers/chicken wire, wrapped venues that marketed these.
 
#15
Yes, it is the new normal. Having lived in California for a while now and enjoying the smoke-free nature, it is sometimes a "shock to the system" to walk into restaurants/venues in other states and smell smoke. I will turn right around and leave a business that smells like smoke.

Unfortunately, we are now starting to smell a different kind of smoke outside more often now.

- John
 
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#19
cincinnati: i'm newer here so i don't know the exact laws, but i haven't been in any restaurant/bar/dive/hole where smoking is allowed. someone from cincy will chime in with how long that has been going on. but we're right across the river from kentucky (produces tobacco and booze).

i smoked most of my life (vaping now for almost 10 years) and was never bothered by it until i stopped the cigarettes.

IME: drunk driving laws have had more to do with venue attendance than tobacco laws, overall...for years.
 
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