Dutch bar owners defiant over smoking ban
At first, pubs and smokers seemed to be complying to the new smoke-free regime. But as bar owners saw their revenue plummet, the ashtrays have been put back on the table.
The organization representing hotels, restaurants and cafés, KHN, thinks the Health Minister is leaving small cafés out in the cold. KHN says bar owners should enforce the ban, but argues for compensation for small pubs faced with substantially fewer customers as a result. The organization predicts 1500 to 3000 establishments will go out of business as a result of the ban. KHN managing director Lodewijk van der Grinten says.
Meanwhile the bar owners who are resisting the smoking ban are in defiant mood. A spokesperson for a pressure group representing 1400 bar owners in 32 towns says, “We would rather go under with the ashtrays on the bar, than allow ourselves be led to the slaughter.”
Source: Radio Nederland. Link