As of July 2007, smoking in enclosed areas of pubs and clubs across NSW has been banned.
 
ClubsNSW, which is the peak body for venues across the state, said clubs suffered their worst financial year ever, with overall club income falling by $385 million in the last financial year.

Figures from Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing estimate a revenue downturn of $26,052,814 in the Parramatta area - a fall of 11.7 per cent.

Source: Parramatta Sun.  Link

AFTER 10 months deliberation officials have ruled a Stourbridge magician’s vanishing lit cigarette trick will not have to disappear.

John Milner, from The House of Magic (UK), Brook Street, has been given limited permission to carry on performing the trick despite the nationwide smoking ban.

John, who is a member of the Inner Magic Circle and International Brotherhood of Magicians, asked Dudley Council whether he could continue to include the trick in his act after the ban on smoking in public places became law in July 2007.

After referring the question to the Local Authorities Coordinating Body on Regulatory Services (LACORS), the council wrote to John on May 30 saying his performance would be exempt from the regulations.

The magician is perplexed by a ruling he cannot demonstrate or rehearse the trick at The House of Magic (UK).

John said: “If anyone in the shop wants to see this trick performed live we will have to step out onto the pavement.”

Source: Halesowen News. Link

August 2, 2008–State Senator Jack Hatch helped push the smoking ban through the statehouse, and now he’s dealing with an unexpected and unpleasant result.

Smokers at Carl’s Place in Des Moines’ Sherman Hill neighborhood have to take their butts outside. It just so happens that “outside” is right across the street from Hatch’s home.

“I look over there every once in a while expecting somebody to shout something at me, but they don’t. They’re polite,” said Hatch, one of the biggest proponents of the ban.

The irony is as thick as the smoke. A gaggle of noisy smokers abiding by Hatch’s law, but making an eyesore for him in the process.

“I don’t think they know it actually, but I do. And it’s nice for me to be behind the bar and watch out these two big windows and see thirty to forty people out there having a good time and smoking cigarettes,” said bartender Scott Renaud.

Renaud claims he’s lost thirty to forty percent of his tips due to the smoking ban, but he won’t find sympathy across the street, where Hatch says the smokers will come back around. “If someone is really going to be bothered because they can’t smoke, then that’s because that person’s really addicted too badly. I think people will settle into something very comfortable,” Hatch said.

Brian Froehlich, president of the Iowa Bar Owners Coalition and a plaintiff, testified that the month-old ban has already slashed sales in bars across the state by 25 percent to 30 percent and as much as 50 percent for some establishments.

“I’d say 80 percent of them are still allowing people to smoke in their bars because if they don’t, they won’t have anybody in there,” Sturgis said.