Smoked out

Christopher Galea (June 27) might have hit on only part of the effects of The Smoking Plague. Could it also be hurting the tourist trade? Not that I care if some restaurant owners who are lawbreakers go bankrupt. Can't they notice how they upset customers? I'll give my experience.

It was a special holiday. We had visitors from the UK. We phoned some restaurants some weeks before and they were all booked up. Eventually we did find room in a restaurant with the added advantage that it was close to home. The place looked fully booked. Service was a bit slow but we were having a pleasant time with our visitors. Soon the couple at one table lit up. I would have just walked out but we had the visitors. Another few tables lit up but the smokers were in the minority. We complained but were told that smoking was allowed. Some others complained so some windows were opened. There were a couple of other fast ones pulled on us.

The next day my wife phoned to inquire about the law. She was told that the restaurant owner was within the law if he had an area totally separate for non-smokers. As it was the restaurant had a lower level that was completely separate from where we were but even on a special day there weren't enough clients to use it. We concluded that the owner had pulled the same trick before and lost the majority of his clients - the non-smokers.

Needless to say we will never go back to the place. Our visitors' holiday was ruined as the wife is allergic to smoke but was too shy to let us know. She spent the rest of her time in Malta, which happened to be exactly half the time they were here, sick in bed.