Comments on: Lost in the mist of time: Prague, a smoker’s haven

By: Bill Lehane

Bill Lehane — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 13:25:19 +0000

Nice write up. There’s a petition campaign running about this at the moment – see this Prague Post article I wrote for more details: http://www.praguepost.com/news/7561-petition-pushes-for-czech-smoking-ban.html. Speaking in a personal capacity p.s., I couldn’t agree more with the above!

By: steve

steve — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 11:19:15 +0000

HI Thees – yes, a smoke with a late beer is what we came across in the Aosta Valley, Italy in January, as long as the other guests have gone and you know the owner. Seems a fair compromise.

By: Thees

Thees — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:22:41 +0000

Well, you don’t have to travel that far: the new government in the Netherlands has easened the ban on smoking in small pubs. As a owner you can decide to allow smoking in your bar, as long as you don’t have any employees. My experience now is that the mayority of bars and restaurants stay smoke free because, as you describe, people really like to have dinner without having to wash their clothes afterwards. But the smokers know where to go now, you can find bars everywhere which allow (mostly after the kitchen closes, around 9/10pm) their customers to have a smoke with their beer.

By: Andy Jarosz

Andy Jarosz — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 12:51:13 +0000

Thanks for the comments. Never been a smoker Steve, but do concede that my many Eastern European moments of nostalgia inevitably involve smoke-filled rooms, so it can’t be all bad. It used to be a part of the world where industrial and chemical pollution was so bad that a bit of nicotine was hardly worth worrying about.
Charlie, thanks for the useful link about the current Czech laws. My initial suspicion is that a voluntary law is little more than a government cop-out in the face of powerful pro-smoking forces. But as a resident perhaps you’ve found a real change since the law changed?

By: steve

steve — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:43:29 +0000

Ah, but if you were a smoker you could have enjoyed the convivial restaurant in Prague, the meal – and the cigarette afterwards. I’ve now packed in but it has been a pleasant throwback in the past four years visiting Krakow or Belgrade and having a beer/coffee in old brown bars steeped in centuries of smoking. Or just being in a village bar in Spain with the windows wide open in summer – there they had a table and chair attached halfway up the wall “for the non-smoker.”

By: Angela

Angela — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 09:48:32 +0000

I couldn’t agree more, I really enjoyed the smoke-free years in London. I can barely breathe when someone smokes beside me, let alone eat.
When I went to Spain, I entered a small shop and even the sales assistant was smoking while talking to me!

By: Charlie

Charlie — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 09:46:16 +0000

Hi, we posted a while back on our blog some detailed info on the smoking laws in Prague, essentially it's voluntary - establishments choose whether they're smoking or non-smoking and that has to be made clear at the entrance.