Smoke signals

Some people complain that people are still smoking in bars and clubs. Anybody who wants to go to a smoke-free bar can easily identify them as they are almost empty.

Had the law been enforced the way these people want it to be, many clubs would not exist anymore because the invasion of non-smokers did not happen.

The owners do not enforce the law because it is a simple matter of choosing the lesser evil: Closing their eyes to smoking customers or closing their doors for good.

As for the complaints about the "pavement restaurants", this problem was created by the introduction of the smoking ban. Before the ban no "pavement restaurants" were needed, but as smokers together with their non-smoking friends stopped going out of or coming to Malta, these bars and restaurants had to find a solution to make a living again.

St Paul's Bay is living proof of what the smoking ban did to the tourist and entertainment industry. But of course all the ones who are so against smoking do not see this, they only see the smoke of a cigarette and no further.