France breathes easy as smoking ban to be extended

THE smoky cafe, essence of the French lifestyle to many, will be but a hazy memory from next week.

The extension of France’s smoking ban to bars, discotheques, restaurants, hotels, casinos and cafes on January 1 marks a momentous cultural shift in a country where thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir once held court while clutching cigarettes in Left Bank cafes.

The phased smoking ban began last February in workplaces, schools, airports, hospitals and other “closed and covered” public places.

However, many bartenders and restaurant staffers are looking forward to the ban.

Just about anywhere indoors will be off-limits for smoking, except homes, hotel rooms, and sealed smoking chambers at establishments that decide to provide them.

The Health Ministry says one in two regular smokers dies of smoking-related illness, and about 5,000 non-smokers die each year of passive smoking.

About 25% of France’s 60 million people are smokers.

The ban will likely mean more unsightly cigarette ends on sidewalks and in gutters.

British American Tobacco’s French arm this week began a pilot programme in and near Paris of putting ashtrays outside bars where tobacco products are sold.

Many restaurateurs, cafe owners and disco operators fear lost business. Smokers who light up with a countertop morning coffee, on the dance floor or after a meal make up a huge customer base.

A national union of disco owners has said it expects up to an 8% decline in business initially, and has urged the government to send pamphlets to police to show “understanding” in their enforcement of the ban.

A total of 10,000 protesters, mainly tobacco vendors, marched across Paris last month in an unsuccessful attempt to convince lawmakers to add flexibility to the new prohibitions.

In a minor concession, the government says it will not fully enforce the new ban on New Year’s Day – giving smokers the right to puff away until January 2.