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Smoking Ban Hits Bar Takings
A month into France's smoking ban and bar and disco owners are complaining about a severe drop in their income.
According the union representing bar-tabac and nightclub owners, takings are down 20 percent in discos and between 15-20 percent in bar-tabacs.
Drink sales are said to be down 25 percent, said a spokesman.
It is reported that rural and suburban cafés and clubs are having a tougher time than city centre bars, where there are terraces to cater for smokers (but perhaps not for long, see yesterday's story about a possible EU ban on the sale of terrace heating).
Owners of bars say that their working class clientele no longer come to the café for their morning coffee and cigarette: Those who do come spend less time on the premises.
So much for the supposed silent majority who were expected to come in their millions to bars and nightclubs once the smoking ban came into effect. EURSOC's admittedly anecdotal evidence suggests that many punters who stayed out while smokers were tolerated are parents of young families, who can't spend evenings sitting in bars even if they wanted to.
