Impact of smoking ban on clubs

Transpontine

history is made at night
I've heard that at the Seone club near London Bridge, home to various trance and dub nights etc., people who want to smoke have to pay £1 for a smokers wristband in order to be able access the smoking area.

I was at a gig a couple of weeks ago at the Amersham Arms in New Cross when I noticed a queue of people and a bouncer operating a strict one in one out policy - was it a VIP area, nope the smoking area.

As a non-smoker I watch this with mild amusement, but there's something almost Burroughsian in this spectacle of addiction/control, with people queing and in some cases paying to be crammed into a tight space to smoke.
 

swears

preppy-kei
I've seen a few people light up on the dancefloor over the last couple of months, usually places where aren't a lot of security guys.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I've been to two or three clubs recently where the vibe has been badly affected by the fact that at any one time a large number of people are outside smoking. Loads of places have obviously cobbled some kind of "courtyard", "garden", "terrace" or "balcony" on to their venue but do they consider this as increasing the capacity? What I mean is, if you've got a club that nominally holds, say, two hunderd and a terrace that holds fifty people, then even if the club is full to the brim it will most likely be only three-quarters full at any one time. If it's only half full to start with it's going to look decidedly empty.
 

wonk_vitesse

radio eros
Time Out feature

Time out did a good article here> Smoking Ban: the aftermath

generally a bit depressing looking at what has happened in NY. I enjoy the ban in pubs but in clubs it just seems stupid. Segregating people is not what clubbing is about. Last time I went out it wasn't a legal venue, it was almost refreshing to see people exercising a bit of liberty :D
 

redcrescent

Well-known member
Time out did a good article here> Smoking Ban: the aftermath

generally a bit depressing looking at what has happened in NY. I enjoy the ban in pubs but in clubs it just seems stupid. Segregating people is not what clubbing is about. Last time I went out it wasn't a legal venue, it was almost refreshing to see people exercising a bit of liberty :D

Thanks for that link w_v

This really made me shudder:
It took New Yorkers years to adapt to their smoking ban, by which time many people had finally quit smoking but the nightlife had changed character and become far more conservative.

Sounds like a terrible blow to proper clubbing - a half hour queue to smoke for five minutes at Fabric? You've got to be joking.

Thankfully that madness has not really reached Mexico yet* but in general I think people here smoke a lot less than in Europe, especially women (there seem to be less smokers in general, and those that do don't smoke as heavily as Europeans). Which is funny because a pack of cigarettes will cost you less than 90p.


* and I do not smoke tobacco without at least a bit of cannabis in it
 

Gavin

booty bass intellectual
The stench factor can not be overlooked -- when they banned smoking in Ohio, the dive bars reeked of stale piss something fierce. Almost enough to make me stop going to them... almost...
 

shudder

Well-known member
The stench factor can not be overlooked -- when they banned smoking in Ohio, the dive bars reeked of stale piss something fierce. Almost enough to make me stop going to them... almost...

same here in toronto. A non-smoker, I'd sort of romanticized coming home from the bars smelling of smoke (I was a teenage and stupid). When the smoke cleared, all that was revealed was beer and sweat. ugh.
 

Transpontine

history is made at night
Maybe the Time Out article overstates the case a bit, after all people have always left the dancefloor to go to the bar or the toilet, so in some ways people going off for a fag is just an extension of that. But it does create a segregation between non-smokers and smokers - in some ways it would be better to have no smoking areas at all... Not sure that idea would be popular with smokers though.

Is it really true that New York nightlife became more conservative because of a smoking ban? I am sure there were other factors, and it would be a sad indictment if the main motor of nightlife quality was the availability of nicotine.
 

zhao

there are no accidents
supposedly a ban has been in effect in berlin for a few months (or maybe it's a limited one? to theaters and such... not sure) but absolutely nothing has changed. people sucking on them things EVERYWHERE nonstop. i'm quiting soon... but nearly impossible when it is everywhere. i really hope the hammer falls here like NY, and strict. a few minor changes in nightlife is nothing compared to a premature and painful death.
 

monkeysblood

born to cry
yeh, just to kind of repeat what's been said - it just smells really bad now.

sweat, trainers, breath, unwashed arseholes and the tang of bleach from the clean up of the night before.

(or, in the case of the lcd show the other night - the waft of fresh poppers as each new track started)
 

swears

preppy-kei
hahaha...who does poppers for a drug buzz over 15 y/o?

"This pounding headache is such a rush!"

My local has this weird stale food odour now, like a slightly manky cafeteria.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
What's stupid is that in plenty of clubs you've obviously still got loads of people boshing pills or doing coke in the bogs, but for the good of our collective health we're no longer allowed to smoke.

I suppose the biggest advantage is that you don't stink of smoke afterwards (you 'only' smell of sweat, instead), which is great esp. for women with longish hair. My girlfriend thinks the ban's the best thing ever for this reason.
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
hahaha...who does poppers for a drug buzz over 15 y/o?

"This pounding headache is such a rush!"

My local has this weird stale food odour now, like a slightly manky cafeteria.

you're supposed to have sex before the headache sets in
 

swears

preppy-kei
On the dancefloor? I must be going to the wrong clubs.

I just remember loads of kids at school doing poppers for the buzz, not as a sex aid. I fucking hated it.
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
no, i guess you're supposed to go to a car or the bathroom or something. i agree, the only thing worse than poppers is e, which makes me black out completely.
 

Transpontine

history is made at night
I've seen a few people light up on the dancefloor over the last couple of months, usually places where aren't a lot of security guys.

I went to a party in an anarchist squat just after the ban came in and people were smoking, it pissed me off a bit as I did come back stinking of smoke which I've always hated. But it did raise some bigger questions - were they striking a libertarian blow ('why should they stop smoking because the state tells them to?') or indulging in a petty selfish gesture ('we're going to smoke just to show we can do what we want, who cares about the impact on other people's health?').

I am generally against prohibition and I am sure the new laws will be used in dubious ways (e.g. another weapon to harrass clubs and squats which don't enforce the law). Ultimately though I am swayed by another libertarian argument - that people should be able to go out dancing or drinkng without being forced to inhale other people's smoke. This is quite different to other drugs (including alcohol) where there isn't a direct impact on other people in the same way - other than sometimes leading to some annoying behaviour.
 

zhao

there are no accidents
were they striking a libertarian blow ('why should they stop smoking because the state tells them to?')

buying cigarrettes (in the US atleast) is the same as donating to the Fund for the Advancement of Christian Fundamentalist Neo-Conservatism.
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
so true. i don't get why the government doesn't tax all drugs...if they did we'd have the best school systems in the world
 

zhao

there are no accidents
so true. i don't get why the government doesn't tax all drugs...if they did we'd have the best school systems in the world

if drugs were legal the government would not be making the big money. according to Mike Rupert, a source i pretty much trust, and various ex-senators he interviews, illegal narcotics is the 3rd biggest industry in the US. (right after steel and forget the other one) 60 billion USD per year (or something like that). the CIA is the grandaddy of all drug dealers.
 
Top