General Chat

Bec, In the government's hands, it's bound to end up being a logistical nightmare as to who is in the right and who is in the wrong. Do we need smoking licences now in addition to drinking licences? lol

Andy - Ultimately I don't see 'Smoke Rangers' storming into the King's Head because from outside the pub they could see the glow of a lit cigarette. I wonder what the punishment for illegal smoking will be? Will you have to be breathalysed? becx

im not bein funny, and call me disrespectful but if they ban smoking in pubs, im just gonna open the window, lean out and a cig! do that or just have one in the ladies. Smoking was banned at my school aswell, but that never stopped me! xxx

Well if this ban also includes heaving city centre bars on a Friday night then I can hardly see them finding people having a crafty fag somewhere. As I understand it, private clubs are the only establishments that are exempt.

Yes Steph but don't start crying if you get a £2000 fine. If someone assaults you in the street you would expect the police to do something because it's illegal. You can't pick which laws you wan't to abide by. This law is meant to save lives. Bob

I just to work at a place where smoking was banned inside the store and also in the area outside the store, car park etc, basically on the whole of the premises, exept the public footpath. Don't you just hate pulling up to DIY stores and retail parks with 3 or 4 staff members hanging round the doors having a fag? Where I used to work, if you could not go 8 hours without a fag, you didn't work there for long ! Mind you, you didn't get any breaks to light up !!

I used to work in a choccy factory & i must say, got fed up with the amount of times smokers went for a crafty puff in the loo. It was also nasty if I had to use the loo. (not my bum...the smoke !! ) After all I couldnt say " Im off for a wander break". People would have been furious,and called me a skiver. but no one batted an eyelid when the smokers trooped out. E x

IN the job I work in, it's not really the done thing to have coffee breaks. we have coffee at our desks rather than fixed breaks. However the smokers all have at least 3 fag breaks a day. 10 mins a time. And before any smartass says I'm on the net half the day - well so are they ! lol

I go for ciggie breaks, but then again, i work most days from 8.00- 6.00, which is an hour and half extra overtime, which i dont get paid for, rarely take my full lunch break, and only ever go for a cig when i have started work early or am finishing late. I think that is fair enough, and it only takes me a minute to have one cig, and i dont have any more than 2 cig breaks a day. I dont think thats awful seeing as all the other smokers here take 10 mins to have a couple of fags, dont work overtime and are out there nearly every hour. x

Add all those minutes up in a week, a month , a year, they soon mount up.

what me???

I think the goverment is all wrong with this ban. They say they are doing it for health reasons, well that is just a load of c**p. If it was entirely for health reasons they would ban it outright not just in public places.They are just trying to please everyone but will just end up annoying most people. Up here in Scotland it will be banned in all Pubs and bars. Not just those serving food. By the way I am a non smoker. Spud

paul from hampshire, thats twice,you have made the same remarks about wales,i have read it several times,looking for humour,but alas,there is none!! by the way,did you know,that most incoming aircraft,empty their toilets over hampshire? bryan....welsh,and proud of it.

Hi Bryan, paul didnt mean any harm in it, he is always mucking around xxx

i don't drink hardly at all....gave up smoking cos i can't offord it.......but wait a minuite they will be on my back soon...cause i'm too fat....and its not because i overeat on junk food either put 2 stone on after giving up the fags .....

I'm giving it up. I'll be richer and hopefully healthier. Just had a thought though, what are all those millions of "whacky backy" smokers going to do?

Haven't we been down this avenue before??? Just as an aside - this "long awaited White Paper" is to be debated after the "long awaited White Paper" on door-step selling and cold-calling - you know, those double glazing salesmen (and women) that plague the life out of you on the phone just whilst you are trying to eat your tea!!! Now, how long has it been since we started moaning about cold-calling and door-step selling? 10, 15, 20 years? and there is still NO LAW to prevent door-step selling and cold-calling! A White Paper is just that - an item for debate by the "powers that be". I do think that the tobacco industry in this country have a tremendous amount of "pull" (as do the petrol companies) and there will be government financial implications that will be decided before anything becomes law, but I bet you a packet of 20 to a tin of mint-balls, the cold-calling white paper will be decided first, rather than the "ban smoking in public places" Jacqui (off to have a quick one before dinner! - fag that is)

I can go a pub and not come out smelling of other peoples cigarette smoke, on the other hand I am a funeral arranger!!!!!!!!!!!!

Margaret - I cannot see what your occupation has to do with whether you go to a pub and come out smelling of fag smoke? Do you arrange many funerals in the pub? I dont, and I'm a funeral director too. We as a firm have smoking and non-smoking arranging rooms - guess which one is used the most? at moments of stress the public will reach for whatever is needed to aid them (a cup of tea, a fag whatever) - who are we as a caring profession to tell them they cannot have a ciggie if they need one when they are often making gut-wrenching decisions about their nearest and dearest? Tell them to go outside and have a fag? Where's the compassion in that? Jacqui

in that sense i feel they can have a cigerette but the issue is a non smoking atmosphere which people have a right to have.a smoker has a choice to stop a non smoker hasn't when it comes to going out and socialisingxxxxx(: