Smoking Ban Links
Archive 1
This page is obsolete. It's only here for
archival purposes. All the information on this page (and much,
much more) is available here.
- - -
The list of articles about business severely affected about bans became
so long we had to break it up into several pages. This page, archive
one, contains the oldest links. You'll find additional links in archive
two, Archive Three and Archive
Four. The most up to date links on this page.
You'll find quite a few dead and expired links here. Many news organizations only make articles available for a limited time. You may be able to visit their home page and order the article.
Fargo
smoking ban debate is about business survival (Expired Link. Source: In-forum.com)
A Lakewood, Wash., casino (with restaurant and bar) has laid off 15
employees since the Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health’s new
smoking regulations went into effect in earnest Feb. 26. Managers say
they will lay off 40 to 50 more if the business slump, which they blame
on the ban, continues.
“My tips have gone down from $70 or $80 a day to less than
$20,” Tracy Willows said at the end of her shift, when she is shaking
her head at the 20 bucks -- if she’s lucky -- in her pocket and
wondering if her pay will be enough to fill her gas tank, much less
put food on the table or buy gym uniforms for her two kids.
We
are starving.
...he recounted a conversation he had had with a woman who supports
the ban gleefully, who quipped obliviously that “my hair doesn’t
stink, my clothes don’t stink, and there’s so much room at
the bar.”
Restaurant smoking ban puffing along a year later (Expired Link. Source: Kansas City Star)
Edna Hardwick, owner of Montgomery's, said she's never served liquor
and doesn't think she should have to just to keep her 40-year-old eatery
from closing. But most of her customers have flocked to other diners.
"A year ago this place would have been full," Hardwick said,
indicating the small lunch crowd. "Now we're operating in the red."
Law
has bar owners fuming
(Expired Link)
The consequences, according to Toni Clifford, a bartender at Ace's,
are already apparent. On a normal weekday afternoon, she used to take
in at least $30 in tips. Yesterday, she was hoping for $5.
Defiant
pub flouts new Irish smoking ban
The city centre pub in Galway, western Ireland, has seen its business
drop by 60 percent since March when smoking in workplaces became illegal.
Parties
snuffed out (Expired Link)
“Where’s all the non-smokers that said 'we can’t
go to the bar because there’s smoking,'” she added.
“We stop the smoking — where are they?”
Montgomery
County restaurant, bar owners say smoking ban has hurt them (Expired Link)
"I've probably lost $50,000 since October," Levy said.
"Everyone is going to VFWs, lodges and country clubs," where
smoking is permitted.
Sign
paper, light up. Smoking ban defied at bar (Expired Link. Newsday)
Naylon said when smokers returned to Jimmy Mac's in April, its bar
business increased by $25,000 from the previous month.
Where
there's no smoke ...(Expired Link. Hear ld Tribune)
Sales from the late-night crowd at Bogey's between 10 p.m. and midnight
are down about 25 percent, primarily because of lower liquor sales,
he said.
Smoking
ban, 1 year later (Expired Link. Palm Beach Post)
"It has almost put me out of business. We are down about 45
percent for each month," Zook said. "Our food sales were 48
percent of our business. Now they are down to 10 percent. A lot of people
who had drinks with lunch or dinner are not coming in now."
...The Ale House's food sales have rebounded and are up 6 percent
over a year ago, but for the first five months of 2004 alcoholic beverages
sales were down $2 million compared with January through May of 2003,
Reid said.
The
other outcome of the smoking ban
The Web - a small tavern in Ogdensburg - will close its doors Saturday.
Owners Janet and Anthony Doerr say the smoking ban destroyed their
business. Since it went into affect, the Doerrs says business has gone
down hill.
Village
Inn seeks relief from ban (Expired Link. Pioneer Press)
He estimated that sales are off by as much as 37 percent in daytime
business...
"Since I last appeared at a board meeting in July of 2003,"
he said, "the Village Inn has been forced to lay off six employees
and my payroll has gone from $47,000 to $25,000 per month," he
said.
Closed
For Good (Expired Link. New York Post)
Most of the tickets — prompted by complaints from nightlife-hating
neighbors — were for excessive noise inside or for "disorderly
sidewalk" when smokers loitered outside. "Now 70 people are
out of jobs," Ferraro said.
Irish
Pub Owners Call for Smoking Ban to Be Eased as Sales Drop
Suppliers of drinks to Irish pubs have posted a decline in sales
of between 15 percent and 25 percent...
Lexington
smoking ban blamed for decline in bingo revenues (Expired Link. Kentucky Heard-Leader)
Lafayette's bingo also has been affected. On the third Saturday
in May last year, Lafayette had 139 players at its bingo session and
made $2,219. This year, it had 104 players and raised $65.
Restaurants
file to halt, repeal smoking ban (Expired Link. The Northwestern.com)
Ratchman said business is up at Ratch and Deb’s. But he said
his business’s gain is another’s loss. He said customers fleeing
smoke-free establishments have flocked to his restaurant since the ban
went into effect on April 19.
“I like to be busy, but I don’t like to take stuff from
other people,” Ratchman said.
How
to light up local nightlife again (Expired Link. Newsday.com)
I talk with other service providers (food, alcohol, cleaning supplies,
even state-sponsored "Quick Draw" gambling). When it comes
to bars, restaurants and other businesses they serve, they all have
the same story: Many have closed.
Bar,
tavern groups tout smoking ban study
The study also found that businesses which supply and service bars
have lost 2,650 jobs, $50 million in earnings and $71.5 million in gross
state product.
Group:
Smoking ban hurts business (Expired Link: Newsday.com)
A study released Tuesday by the New York Nightlife Association and
the Empire State Restaurant and Tavern Association said the ban that
went into effect in July has also led to $28.5 million in lost wages
and $37 million in lost gross state product. Affiliated businesses lost
another 650 jobs and $56 million in wages and production, the study
by Ridgewood Economic Associates said.
Fayetteville
Restaurant Owners Criticize Smoking Ban
Casa Taco is one restaurant that recently closed its doors. The
owner told 40/29's Melissa Kelly that the smoking ban snuffed out his
sales.
"Sales dropped off dramatically," said Alex Hunt. "We
lost our late-night business ... a lot of people come in after the bars
close."
Along with Hunt, the owners of the Ozark Brewing Co. and Café
Santa Fe said the smoking ban was a factor in their decisions to close.
Other restaurants, such as Hoffbrau, are taking a major hit.
"Our restaurant business is good, but we've lost 50 percent
of our liquor sales," said manager Scott Mayes.
Smoking
ban hurts profits, bars say (Expired Link. Maine Sunday Telegram)
The ban, he said, is costing him $70,000 a year in gross profit.
"I'm making up some in food sales, but it will take me five years
to get back to the profit margin I was making two years ago."
That loss is trickling down to his employees, he said. "It
affects whether I can provide insurance and benefits to key employees,"
he said.
Smoke-free
move threatens diner (Expired Link. Ontario Chronicle Journal)
Angelo Bazzoni said that after his Highway 17 eatery banned the
weed on Jan. 1, business fell off by more than half and has yet to recover.
Bar
smoking ban: Air cleaner, business down (Expired Link. Maine Today)
They say customers disappeared when the law went into effect in
January. The president of the Maine Restaurant Association says business
is down by 30 percent at some establishments, especially those near
New Hampshire, where tavern air retains its smoky haze.
"Business is off big-time," Dick Grotton said. "The
law continues to be a source of extreme irritation."
Businesses
Look For Ways Around Smoking Ban
Allen Gilbert owns Friends and Company. "We've lost a lot of
our happy hour crowd. Since the smoking ban has gone into effect, we're
down almost 30-percent."
The restaurant has experienced the lowest revenue in the last 19
months.
Smoking
ban hitting trade, claim vintners
Figures from the Dublin trade clearly show that on average, pub
revenues have been hit by between 12% and 15%
Smoke-free
fans never showed up
Lisa Sorochan, an owner of the late, lamented Bacchus, says it was
hurt badly when the city's smoking bylaw reduced business by about 50
per cent. The Bacchus opened in 2000. In its first two years, it regularly
would close to its 275-person indoors capacity, Sorochan says. As business
dwindled, you'd be lucky to find 60 patrons on hand. One estimate of
the loss at the Bacchus is $100,000.
Taps
for Union Colony Brewery
Owner Larry Oyler said Greeley's smoking ban, enacted in December,
was the crushing blow to the business that has slumped through a down
economy since 2001.
Business
Shuts Doors Due To Smoking Ban
Owners of Nicholson's Cigar Bar say it didn't make sense to operate
a smoke-less cigar bar.
Tougher
smoking ban waiver
The bar has been a family business for more than 30 years, and they've
never had a problem until now. Business dropped drastically after the
smoking ban went into effect last year. Kolor has even had to dip into
her retirement money.
Pipe
Dreams (Expired Link. New York Post)
"Sandee Wright, the co-owner of Whiskey Ward on Essex Street,
said she was battling a 30 to 40 percent drop in sales.
"I've had to lay three people off, starting with my doorman
- my husband does it for free now," she said."
Smoking
ban a cancer on business, bar owners say (Expired Link. Norwich Bulletin)
"Our afternoon business is gone. We've lost quite a bit."
"Bar owners claim they are losing as much as 60 percent of
their business as smokers flock to establishments where they can light
up."
"Lora Wilson, owner of Mugsy's Cafe in Oakdale, said she is
losing $150 a day and is cutting back on shifts because she can't afford
to pay her staff of four."
Ban
blamed for $2.9-million cut in funding (Expired Link. Canadia.com)
Communities across Manitoba are going to feel more economic fallout
from smoking bans.
The bans are being blamed for a $2.9 million cut to urban development
initiatives in Winnipeg this year, such as housing and tourism projects.
Jobs
will go up in smoke with statewide smoking ban (Expired Link. Norwich Bulletin)
"For example, the Grand Central Casino in Lakewood reports
that since the ban took effect in February, liquor sales are down 42
percent and food sales have dropped 25 percent. Fifteen employees have
been laid off and another 40 to 50 jobs are in jeopardy."
"As one beleaguered casino employee asked the health department
officials, "how many people have to lose their cars and their jobs
and their homes before you see that trying to protect my health is endangering
my livelihood?"
Bar
and restaurant owners plan to fight smoking ban (Expired Link. Norwich Bulletin)
Bar owners claim they are losing as much as 60 percent of their
business as smokers flock to establishments where they can light up.
Bar
owners hope to fight smoking ban (Expired Link. Norwich Bulletin)
Since the beginning of April when the state ban on smoking in bars
took effect, the bartender at the Brown Derby on Route 32 said her income
has dropped by more than half.
Smoking
ban hurts track (Expired Link. Philadelphia Inquirer)
William Rickman Jr., president of Delaware Park, said the ban resulted
in a $36 million loss in gross revenues last year and about $72 million
throughout the state.
Owner
Closes {Tavern}, Blames Smoking Ban
After 10 years in business, a neighborhood bar is closing its doors. The owner blames the state's smoking ban.
Smoking
ban burns businesses
"This casino has laid off 15 employees since the Tacoma-Pierce
County Board of Health's new smoking regulations went into effect in
earnest Feb. 26. And managers say they will lay off 40 to 50 more if
the business slump, which they blame on the ban, continues.
"My tips have gone down from $70 or $80 a day to less than
$20," Willows said."
Counting
the cost of New York's smoking ban
"They said the ban would be good for business and for employees,
yet my business is down and three good staff are out of work and unable
to find another job. One big irony is that most of my staff are smokers,
and now they’re being protected from second-hand smoke."
The {The New York Nightlife Association} claims that 76% of 300
members surveyed about the ban said business had fallen by an average
30%.
Smoking
bans could snuff out small bars, eateries
In New York City, where legislators are considering amendments to
the smoking ban, 76 percent of bars and nightclubs experienced a 30
percent decline in business.
Banning
the ban on smoking (Expired Link. Newsday)
It's worse at Tony's Sports Bar & Restaurant in Queens Village.
"It killed our business," said owner Tony Narain. Within the
past year, alcohol and beer sales have declined 70 percent, he said.
"I'm losing money right now."
All
puffed up over cig law
Bar owners and their patrons said the past 12 months have been an
economic disaster: Bar stools and cash registers are empty, clubs break
the law just to survive and smokers are pushed into the street to puff.
"New York City has gone from the city that never sleeps to
Sleepy Hollow," said Tom Carrube, manager of Sharkey's Sports Bar
and Grill on Staten Island. He estimates that revenue has plummeted
60% as regulars stay home or head to nearby New Jersey for a beer and
a smoke.
Oswego
Co. grants four smoking ban waivers
Restaurants
Blame Smoking Ban For Closings
Members of the restaurant association said their alcohol sales have dropped since the ban by 20 percent to 25 percent.
Up
in smoke?
Businesses
with smoking-ban waivers waiting for rebound
Smoking
ban may be hurting lotto sales
Joe Mancino owns the Fulton Ale House. He says that since the smoking ban took effect, his business is down 25%. While that may not sound like anything new, Mancino says the money he collects for the state's Quick Draw game is down as well.
DBJ
Confidential - Dallas Ban Costs Hotels a Million Dollars in Lost
Revenue
At the Hyatt Regency Dallas, general manager Steve Vissotzky says the Hyatt has lost more than $750,000 in '03 sales because the ban includes hotel meeting rooms. Cigar Aficionado magazine canceled a March event there, and Philip Morris nixed a meeting in August. Over at the Fairmont Hotel, meanwhile, GM Frank Naboulsi says ban-related cancellations total $250,000 so far
Smoking
ban may snuff out lodge (Expired Link)
A band was playing Friday Oct. 10, one day after the ban went into
effect, and the no-smoking signs were posted. "[Customers] walked
in and walked out," Radice remembered. "Everyone left and
went into town and the remaining six non-smokers left because they were
bored."
"The first weekend the band played for me and Steve,"
said bar manager Chrissy Seltzer of Poolesville. "It was horrible."
Smoking
ban hurts local business
Since the state's smoking ban took affect in July, there hasn't been a lot of laughs at Viva Debris Comedy and Magic Club. Business is down, way down.
"We have lost about 30% of our business which includes 30% of our staff," said owner Joe Delion.
Smoking
bylaw clears out curling club bar
The president of Inuvik's Curling Club predicts it will lose $40,000 by the end of the year, and says the town's smoking by-law is to blame. Don Craik told town council Monday night that members are no longer spending money in the club's bar, putting the club's future in jeopardy.
Bylaw
put me out of business, restaurant owner says
Pierce
County Casinos Cry Foul Over Smoking Ban
Tioga
Health Board nixes all smoking ban waivers (Expired Link. Ithica Journal)
Veterinarians are among those deciding the fate of bar and restaurant
owners.
Hotel,
Club Owner Turning To Internet To Net A Sale
Another
NYC bar closes
I just closed my bar in lower Manhattan about two weeks ago. I felt bad laying off seven workers. Most of them had been with me during the five years Swan's was open. None of them had ever complained about secondhand smoke. Taverns are dropping like flies, but not from smoking or cancer."
Smoking
bylaw hurting business, says hotel owner
Anti-Smoker
Activists resist any attempt at wavers.
Niagara
County Bars experience 17% loss due to ban.
Bars and restaurants in Niagara County estimate a 17 per cent loss
of business is on the low end since the smoking ban went into effect.
I'm told business at some establishments is down by 50 per cent and
more.
No
Smoking? No Customers
Tony Almeida, co-owner of Eightball VIP Sports Cafe in Chatham, said the bylaw has had a “drastic impact.
“I would say sales have been impacted to the tune of 40 per cent or more,” he said.
Mattydale
bar closes after smoking ban
It may have looked like a party, but patrons were saying their good-byes to Cam Nel. The bar closed its doors Sunday after more than 50 years of serving the Mattydale community.
To
smoke or not to smoke?
Zoi Christanis' said her business at Christanis Bar and Grill is down 40 percent.
Mills
Calls for Repeal of Smoking Ban
NY
smoking ban leads to job losses
According to new research one in 10 jobs in the New York pub and bar sector have been lost since the city introduced its ban on smoking in the workplace in March.
War
on Smokers
Another list of links to business that have suffered because of smoking bans. Also reports of smokers being harassed and attacked by anti-smokers.
10,000
new workers scam
The Nicotine Nannies lie again.
Effects
of ban in NYC
A few miles away, in downtown Manhattan, the waitresses at McCann's restaurant pub have given up waiting for a lunchtime diner. "No one's coming to eat here from work," says the bartender, Luke Sullivan. "There's a deli downstairs. They get their sandwiches from there and eat them outside, where they can have a smoke as well. Waitresses pay their rent with tips. Now they're not getting any."
Bingo
Players Decry Smoking Ban
Bingo halls expect to lose at least 20 to 30 percent of their business once the ban takes effect.
California
Bar Owners Vow to Continue to Fight California Smoking Ban (1998)
"'It's running people out of here,' said (Terry) Schaner, a bartender for 13 years at the Antlers (in Pinole.) 'It's probably cost me about $150, $200 a week in tips,' he said -- about half of his income."
For
Bart's, ban on smoking is a killer
Less than a year after the city of Louisville enacted a no-smoking ordinance in all restaurants, Bart's, a fixture in the town for nearly three decades, shut its doors last week.
It had in recent months become a deserted shell of its former self. The bar, like many in Louisville restaurants these days, stood empty all day.
NYC
busts shop owner for ashtray
A business owner who left an ashtray sitting out in his shop has been fined $6,000 by New York City's health inspector, who was enforcing the city's tough, new anti-smoking law.
On the ticket, health inspectors M. Dundas and S. Holloway reported: "One (1) ashtray with cigarette butt, and ashes, was seen on the counter of the establishment."
The ashtray was there, he said, because a customer came in the store with a cigarette. Rather than make her go back outside, Arno let her snuff it out in the ashtray.
Bingo
Halls Want NYS To "Butt" Out
Workers say profits are down 50 percent this month. On a Tuesday night in September 2002 about 143 people played at Bingo World in Greece. Only 79 showed up on the same night this year.
Bingo
revenues go up in smoke
“Some of the charities are hurting, significantly,” he said, adding, “we're seeing a decrease in charity dollars in the vicinity of $35,000 to $40,000 a month.”
Anti-Smoker
movement attacking smokers in their homes
Promising to spark a debate over government's role in people's personal lives, the bill would allow neighbor to sue neighbor to rid apartment and condominium complexes of wafting tobacco smoke.
Smoking
ban has business fuming
Sales at Montgomery County bars and restaurants have slipped by as much as 50 percent since a smoking ban went into effect less than three weeks ago, owners said yesterday.
Smoking
Ban Puts Restaurant Profits Up In Smoke
In Haverhill, the bar banter has moved outside. Three months ago, the city banned smoking in most restaurants. The ashtrays may be gone, but so are the customers.
"I would say we lost 30 to 40 percent of our business right off top since March 1, and it happened that day," restaurant owner Mike Difeo said.
It was a similar story at Benny's farther north on Route 125.
"It's a struggle. I've lost $49,000 as of today, and I can see I lost my main base of customers because of non-smoking. I am losing help. My people are not making money. I went from 58 employees to 44 employees," restaurant owner Ben Brienza said.
Smoking
hearing snuffed
I went from making a very good weekly paycheck to making minimum wage,'' Miller said. I'm now making less than a McDonald's employee.''
Cafe
business up in smoke
Sales were down $3,000 in July 2002 compared to July 2001. Hardest hit were on Friday nights and Sunday mornings.
This may be the most frightening article on these pages
Physicians
for a Smoke Free Canada advocate taking kids from smoking parents.
(PDF file)
One way of protecting childern from harm is ensuring they are not exposed to second hand smoke. . .Sometimes, where are unable or unwilling to provide a safe and secure environment for their children, the courts can provide provincial governments as temporary guardians. . .When the government is in the position of parent, the responsibility of protecting children from second hand smoke is transferred from the natural parents to the government.
The government meets it's parental responsibilities provincial child protection systems, using foster homes as the main tool to watch over children in their care.
Some opinion pieces:
Passive
aggressive
Musician
Joe Jackson debates with a nicotine nanny MD, and makes him look like
a fool.
Give
Them Liberty - To Smoke And Eat
I've never smoked, but I hate this law. It's government overstepping
its powers, and it can be cruel.
Rage,
rage against the dying of the lighters
This has become a religion, you know, a crusade with all the shuddering
hallmarks of zealotry crossed with pedantry — the theocracy of
the Tobacco Taliban, the Rapture of the Righteous, the Passion of the
Pious.
Tyranny
by bylaw blows, so do smoking Stalinists (Expired Link)
Bar owners who complain about an unequal playing field — that
they would lose customers to establishments that permit smoking or that
shelled out for soon-to-become-obsolete separately ventilated spaces
— actually reinforce, with their whingeing, the inherent stupidity
of the bylaw. What they're admitting is that, given a choice, smokers
will vote to smoke, with their feet. (I don't mean they'll actually
smoke with their feet, although I've seen people do this and it's a
neat trick.)
Mike's
run may go up in smoke
New York does not want or need Nurse Ratched as mayor.
Cruelty
to Smokers
Smoking
Ban Proposal is an Attack on Property Rights
Flying
Fists and Cancer Sticks
I was sitting outside Terminal 5 at LAX, smoking a cigarette, waiting for a friend, when a mother and her young daughter walked by. While passing me, both, as if with Pavlovian reflexes, broke into Tony-worthy faux-coughing fits. The two, it seemed, were waging a passive-aggressive war on smoking. It was as if they'd earlier made a pact to chide every smoker they encountered.
Health
Czarina Rules from on High
Thank
You for Not Drinking . . . In the Bar
Wanted:
A Few Good Lawyers
Smokonomics
If you'd like to see an article added to this list, please send
us the link.
