No smoke without .... notices in the doorway

About four years ago when news about La Ley del Tabaco first leaked out, Spanish friends of mine in Manchester were extremely proud. There was Spain, up in the front line in the fight against tobacco, showing other European countries what to do, banning smoking. Who said Spain was a retrograde country with old-fashioned ideas? How fantastic!

And fantastic was what it turned out to be, pure fantasy. The law came into effect in January 2006 and we went to test the waters (or the air, perhaps) the following Easter. First we hunted for a smoke-free bar in central Madrid. It was not quite a fruitless search. Of course, it was not an exhaustive search but we did expect to find more than ONE.

From Madrid we moved to Salamanca, where we saw impressive Semana Santa processions but again only one bar without the large AQUÍ SE PUEDE FUMAR notice in the doorway. That one bar had a truly wonderful range of tapas and as a result had no fear of losing their clientele.

Still pursuing our quest for a smoke-free holiday we moved further south and went to visit my sister in Andalucía. There I felt that I almost knew the owner of her local bar well enough to talk to him about the question. (At any rate, my sister and I are very similar in looks and he knows her very well.) He told me that he had been all in favour of going no-fumador. He had the notices up: AQUÍ NO SE PERMITE FUMAR. And the result was ... an empty bar for three days! So he changed his mind and the notices and his customers came back.

Now as we approach the last quarter of 2009 and other European countries have overtaken the Spanish in their anti-smoking measures, the situation is a bit different. The UK managed to ban smoking in pubs despite some protests. There has been something of a crisis in the pub world but the idea has been accepted. The makers of portable pergolas and patio heaters have done tremendous business as pubs all over the country have put up tents for smokers outside their establishments. Even the French, indomitable smokers of ever there were any, have rolled over and said OK, no smoking in bars and restaurants.

So now it’s Spain’s turn. In mid-July newspapers told us that the number of heart attacks had gone down since the Ley del Tabaco was introduced in January 2006. And this was despite the fact that the vast majority of bars and small restaurants still opted for the smoking option. At the end of July it was reported that the government was studying the possibility of banning smoking in all public places, including bars and restaurants regardless of size. My friend Colin has already commented in his blog that 70% of Spaniards would be in favour of this move.

However, here in Galicia there is an interesting little voice of protest. It seems that many (many?) restaurateurs have borrowed considerable sums of money to create separate smoking areas in their establishments. Many of them are still paying back loans taken out specifically to finance this building work. They feel hard done by that the government might now make all this unnecessary just in the interest of clean air and public health. Well, actually they don’t say anything about the clean air and public health question but they do feel hard done by.

I am tempted to say that I await the result of this discussion with bated breath but that might be going a bit too far.

I do know that my Spanish brother-in-law will be unhappy about it. He already complains that he has to leave his office to smoke. If they take away his right to smoke while he has a coffee or a caña at the bar on his way home, his dissatisfaction will reach new heights!