I was watching Cracker (Robbie Coltrane) and the lead character is a smoker. This was filmed in the 90’s and there was a scene where he is asked to not smoke in an area of a restaurant.
Was this common place? Did some establishments outright ban smoking? Was it frowned upon to smoke in certain shops?
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Ah, the good old division of a restaurant into smoking and non-smoking sections.
Since the actual smoke *totally* paid attention to those…
I remember going to a café as a kid and one side was for smoking and the other was for non smoking. There was about two steps between the sides
Up until the ban for most pubs, bars and nightclubs I went to, you could just have at it indoors.
They still had a smoking section in the IKEA restaurant in 2001. Coaches used to have ashtrays in the arm rest. When I played rugby and football as a lad you could smoke in the clubhouse.
I don’t think smoking in individual shops was appreciated but you could smoke in an indoor shopping centre no problem. Newsagents were a different story, the owner of the one I did a paper round for would be sat smoking a fag behind the counter.
The ban came in not long after I was old enough to drink. I remember they’d have ashtrays on the bar. There was a club in Cardiff that was better off when you could smoke, once the ban came into effect everyone noticed it reeked of sweat and piss.
Back in the 90’s – cigarette smoke respected non-smoking signs: we had smoking and nonsmoking sections in restaurants, and the smoke would magically stop at the divide.
Truly magical times.
It used to absolutely reek
People didn’t care and lit up in most places I have memories of going to the bowling alley and people smoking.
Restaurants had smoking and non smoking but it was next to each other and pointless
There were smoking and no smoking areas in pubs/restaurants
But they were the same room. There would be nothing actually separating them in most cases.
It was weirdly well enforced from my experience
I used to smoke st work it was the norm. It was rare to find anywhere where smoking wasn’t allowed. Weirdly, the smoking van made me start smoking again as my friends would go out for a fag & I’d be left like billy no mates, so I’d join them outside & once your back on the slippery slope. Luckily I’ve been a non smoker now for 7 years
The etiquette, there wasn’t any.
You would have been odd to question someone lighting up in front of you on the basis that there was already that much smoke in the air that it wouldn’t make a difference.
Smoking at work in the office/staff room, again, you’d be odd to question it. If you didn’t smoke you’d be the one to go out for fresh air, not the smoker.
Obviously fantastic for public health that it’s now banned, but growing up with it I miss it.
As soon as we couldn’t smoke inside every bar and club suddenly smelt of piss, BO and Lynx Africa.
When you booked a table at certain restaurants, they’d ask if you wanted smoking or non smoking.. I have never smoked, so always non smoking.
When you arrived and got taken your table, there would be a little no smoking sign on it, and then right beside you at the next table would be people puffing away at their smoking table.
Completely pointless.
Ahhhh, the cinema. Scene of many an illicit smoking session when I was younger.
The screen would show a message before the film started – “All smokers to the left”, or words to that effect. All the seats and carpets would have burn holes in them.
Those were the days….
Upstairs on a double decker bus.
No smoking carriages on trains.
It depends how far back you go. But I can remember the 70s where quite simply there was no “etiquette”. It was just assumed that anyone could smoke anywhere. For the first half of my career I worked in offices where nearly everybody smoked at their desks. people smoked in bars and restaurants. If you complained then *you* were the weird one.
What’s that saying along the lines of a “no smoking section” is about as much use as a “no pissing” section in a swimming pool? Yeah there were areas in restaurants and sometimes in a bar you couldn’t smoke in the lounge section, the upstairs of a bus was the smoking section and downstairs was no smoking, but we all know the smell and the smoke just soaks into everything within a certain distance.
Personally I do not miss eating somewhere and having smoke drifting over me from the next table and I don’t miss going to a gig and having my clothes ruined by cigarette burns in the mosh pit. I get it’s a pain in the hole having to go outside and shiver in the wind and pissing rain but that’s one of many reasons I don’t smoke!
In Germany it’s still done, like stepping back in time
When I first started work we could smoke at our desks, we were then moved to the corridor, then to the smoking room and finally a bus shelter in the car park
I seem to remember that in some chain pubs the smoking section would be slightly raised
I worked in a gala bingo hall as a caller before and after the ban came into place. That was horrible. I was seated higher up on the stage and the room was 3/4 smoking seats and 1/4 non smoking seats, although it didn’t make any difference where you sat. On a busy night (fri/sat) the place was fully seated with about 600 people. It took me about a month before I could finish a shift without a headache. I’m so glad for the ban
You would go to the Pub on a Friday night, be a non-smoker, not smoke a single fag. Then when you woke up in the morning your bedroom would absolutely REEK of smoke. Clothes would be kicking up something rotten and your brain slithering in the residue of double house whiskey n coke’s.
All my favourite tops had burn holes in, because I was young enough (on a night out) to dance with enthusiasm, and it was normal for people to smoke on the dance floor.
I’m old enough that smoking in pubs and clubs was very normal, but young enough that it wasn’t usual in most restaurants, shops or transport.
The village pub i worked in shut down 3 months after the ban, because why pay more for your drinks, to see your mates, and have to go outside to smoke, when you could get much cheaper beer at home, invite your friends round, and be more comfortable and be able to smoke in your sitting room
People generally smoked anywhere, it made your hair and clothes smell even if you were in the no smoking section. Nobody really asked for permission, it was more of a “can I have an ashtray” if there wasn’t one there.
I’ve worked in the middle East and you can smoke anywhere but most places are really well ventilated.
I wasn’t an adult but I was late teens and remember before the smoking ban in the UK and everywhere used to stink of smoke.
I’ve sat in a coffee shop in the middle East with everyone smoking and it’s not as bad as smoking in pubs pre-ban
Edit: the Arabs all smoke like chimneys too
It depends how far back you go…
Long before the total ban many places didn’t allow smoking. Clothes shops would be an obvious example – non smokers are not going to want pre-stinked clothes. So they banned smoking way earlier.
I’m old enough to remember when smoking was everywhere and asking someone not to smoke was considered rude, even in a hospital FFS. I worked in offices where half the people smoked. I’ve flown in planes where people smoked – that was awful, but oddly not as bad as flying economy today.
Through the 80s and 90s, it just gradually became less acceptable until finally a total ban was something enough people would accept.
These days I notice weed smoke more often than tobacco smoke. Smoking is now a shunned activity, off to your special outside shelters away from the civilised people, we don’t want that stink.
yeh generally in pubs you just smoked anywhere
in restaurants there were no smoking sections
in hotels no smoking rooms
you could smoke on planes at the back / front (this stopped early 90s tho by memory)
you could smoke in hotel lobbies
there were ashtrays ontop of the urinals in work toilets (like you couldnt have a piss without a fag lol) and also in the corridors of work by the coffee machine
we once wondered if you could smoke in tesco as there were no signs explicity banning it, so my mate tried it, noone said anything
people smoking in their houses of course, ashtrays on the living room table, nobody batted an eyelid
im happy its all stopped though and generally people dont smoke anymore
I can’t believe me and my husband used to smoke in our own living room! Or in bed even!! Seems like madness now!
Burger King had little metal silver ashtrays on the tables that were like tinfoil material. Burger King!
Nightclubs just smelt of smoke, not farts, vomit and stale beer.
If you were sitting with other people you’d pull out a pack and offer them one. If they declined, then you ask if they’d mind if you smoked, then you’d light up before they responded.
Occasionally someone would ask you not to smoke so you’d walk off and find somewhere where you could smoke
As a smoker before the ban came in I can only say one thing; I was so happy when it did! Even as someone who smoked, I never did in my car, house etc and there was nothing worse than waking up to the smell of your smoky jeans from being in a pub all night.