When NYC went smoke free, it was the best. You could go out for a drink and not come home smelling of smoke. And if you went out for a few drinks you felt much better the next morning.
The smell of stale beer and urine wasn't pleasent, but that went away after a week or two.
I think it's a long term positive for businesses, more non-smokers will go out and stay out longer.
Oklahoma recently enacted no smoking in restaurants affected one of the most popular bars in town because the law says only places where 60% of the revenue comes from alcohol sales are exempt. This bar is a restaurant during the day and so no smoking at night. The nice thing is after leaving there on 5 dollar drown nights, if you go to another bar you are probably too drunk to notice the smoke. :)
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Tell that to the businesses that went under waiting for the antismokers to come make up the business they lost when smoking bans went into effect.
First, smoke doesn't really bother me unless it's extremely heavy. I still bowl in a league and there are a lot of smokers.
BUT, my wife will no longer go to a bar to hear a band because of the smoke, so I don't go, either. We won't go to a restaurant that doesn't have a well segregated smoking section and she prefers smokeless ones.
Fortunately, most of the better restaurants here no longer allow smoking, although there's no city or state ordinance about it. The number of smoke-free restaurants is increasing rapidly, which tells me the policy isn't hurting business. A bar, however, might be a different matter.
Your comment on the smell going away is odd; do you mean that once the smell of smoke went away the other smells of urine and stale beer then dominated?
If so, how did they then go away?
Do only smokers pee and spill beer or is it that you now spend so much time there that you have become oblivious to the smell?
I'm a smoker and so far they haven't been able to pass a smoking ban in our county. My favorite restaurant is non-smoking. I don't think they did it to punish me but to please some of their other customers. That is freedom at work, they have a choice, I have a choice and I still choose to patronize their business because I love their food.
What we don't need is villianization of every behavior that offends someone. I really am very allergic to many perfumes, I have never gone on a campaign to eliminate perfume. I remove myself from the problem as best I can and go on with my life.