Smoking Ban Links
Archive 3
This page is obsolete. It's only here for
archival purposes. All the information on this page (and much,
much more) is available here.
- - -
The list of articles about business severely affected by smoking bans became so long we had to break it up into several pages.
Archive One (The oldest links)
Archive Two
Archive Four
The most up to date links on this page.
You'll find quite a few dead and expired links here. Many news organizations only make articles available for a limited time. You may be able to visit their home page and order the article.
Smoking ban foes mobize
With allies such as former Mayor Paul Soglin and reports from 73 bars that business in July was off by roughly one-third, a new coalition says it is prepared to overturn Madison's smoking ban.
She reported that business in her bar, at the edge of the city on the southeast side, was down 23 percent compared with last July and that they have gone from three bartenders on a Friday night to one. Additionally, her beer orders have plummeted. She used to order 100 cases of beer per week from each of two main distributors. Now she said she orders 25.
Minimum wage hike and smoking ban: a double whammy for bars and restaurants?
Theodorakakos says the smoking ban cost him 30 percent of his business. But he won't be put out by paying his staff a higher wage. It'll cost him less than it would've before the smoking ban. He says the loss of business caused him to cut his staff in half.
"We had to fire six or seven waitresses and two cooks," Theodorakakos says. "We used to be open till 9 o'clock at night. We close at 3 now."
Tavern League Plans Protest Against Smoking Ban
One month into Madison's smoking ban, Tavern League members say their bottom line has hit rock bottom.
The general manager at the Buckeye Inn says revenues are 40 percent lower than this time last summer. She adds things could get worse this fall.
And the general manager at the "Sports Pub" says -- even with volleyball games nearly every night -- his revenues have dropped 35 percent.
Smoking ban has Appleton fuming
At Jokers Bar, the staff of eight has been laid off. Owner Tony Schaefer said he's now working the bar with his brother.
"We'll be closing up" if business doesn't improve, Schaefer said. "The sad thing is we don't even know if anyone would buy it."
Nearly three-quarters of the 64 businesses that responded to a request from the Appleton Post-Crescent reported sluggish sales in the past month, most from 10 to 40 percent lower compared with last July. Some reported sales off as much as 70 percent.
For now, sales are down 35 percent at Shark's Club Billiards Bar and Grill, owner Mitchell Roepke said.
"We're a blue-collar, working-class establishment and they're the smokers. ... I'm losing $11,000 in sales in July," Roepke said.
Appleton's Smoking Ban One Month Later
Emmett's Bar and Grill in Appleton is seeing some lean times. "Quiet. It's been very quiet," owner Sharon Reader says.
It's been about a month since a smoking ban took effect in the city, and some bar and restaurant owners say it's been a bad month.
Some business owners say revenue is down 35 to 65 percent compared to a year ago. One bar owner tells us looking at the last two weeks she's down $7,000 from the same period last year.
"I just informed my employees yesterday that they will probably be laid off in two weeks," Reader said Thursday, "and this'll be the first time that Emmett's has closed for lunch in 15 years."
"My nighttime business has supported my daytime business enough for me to keep these people employed and keep my head on the pillow at night. That's no longer the case," Reader said.
Smoking ban cuts Q1 profits by third, gaming corp. says
Profits at government-owned casinos in Regina and Saskatchewan dropped by almost a third in the first quarter of the 2005-06 fiscal year that began Apri 1 and the smoking ban is the cause, the Saskatchewan Gaming Corp. says.
Hennepin rethinks smoking ban
"I'm worried about making my house payment," said Cheryl Irving, a bar manager at Rostamo's, a bar in Crystal. "My personal income is down 40, 50 percent. I now have to work six shifts, where I used to work four."
John Alexander, who owns Johnny A's, a sports bar in Minneapolis, agreed. "I can't pay my taxes," said Alexander, who said he has dismissed his private security staff at the bar. "My business has gone down by 35 percent."
"It's a slow death," he added.
Bill Nicklow, whose family owns five restaurants in Hennepin County, watched Tuesday's meeting and then shook his head. "I was under the impression the world was created to support the people, and not punish them," he said. "We're losing our customers. We're losing our help."
Smoking ban
As a NYC bar owner, I can tell you with absolute honestly that the smoking ban has caused more than a 30% loss in business. The after work customers either don't stop by or just have one or more, and this continues throughout the evening. The NY Night Life Association and the Empire State Restaurant and Tavern Association and other groups will tell you the same.
Smoking ban may be death of pub
During the last six months, profits have been $115,000 down on last year and the couple have had to let their two full-time staff go, putting a bed in a room behind the bar so they can take turns out front.
Madison bar owners say smoking ban hurts
Revenues disappearing as customers head out of town
It's terrible, absolutely terrible, said Cal Beecher, owner of the Tip Top Tavern. I've been here 32 years. It's going to close me down.
Terry Olson, co-owner of Ole 'N Rick's North Side Inn in Madison, said business is down 60 percent and he started cutting back shifts for three or four bartenders Monday.
Patty Telvick, general manager of the Buckeye Inn, said her regulars have disappeared and nonsmokers have not taken their place.
Dave Wiganowsky, owner of Wiggie's, said nonsmokers do not spend enough to make up for the loss of customers.
We had two nonsmokers, Wiganowsky said. They bought two cans of pop and said, Isn't this wonderful?' and walked out. That won't pay the light bill.
Meanwhile, bars just outside Madison are reporting an increase in customers.
Smoking ban cripples Rotorua hotel
Most businesses affected by the smoking ban are happy with the result, according to government sources, but at least one establishment has been hit by an $80,000 loss in trade as pub patrons went up in smoke.
The couple undertook a plan of restoration and turned the hotel into a popular backpacker destination, but bar regulars disappeared with the advent of the smoking ban, WIN said, dropping profits for the first six months of the ban by $80 000 in contrast to the corresponding period the year before.
This drop in profitability has had a flow-on effect. Restoration work has slowed, backpacker accommodation rates have been heavily discounted to maintain a cash flow, and Ian and Teresa are no longer able to afford to pay wages, WIN said.
Bars say smoking ban killing business
Marcel Etheridge of the Beverage Industry Association says alcohol sales are down since the ban came in two weeks ago. "I haven't met any bar owner that has said business has not gone down," he said. "At the moment, it ranges from 30 per cent minimum to 60 per cent maximum."
State smoking ban marks 2-year anniversary
On any given Sunday, smokers used to be puffing away inside the local Menands Diner on Broadway in Menands. The ban put an end to it and the owner, Alex Vasilakos, says business has never been the same.
Two years after the smoking ban, the small family diner is losing approximately $7,000 a month. Vasilakos says that is a lot for a small business.
Smokers used to come in and play Quick Draw while having a smoke and a cup of coffee.
The owner and workers at Menands Diner say they too enjoy a smoke-free workplace, but it comes at a price they simply can't afford.
Bar, eatery owners ask county to reconsider smoking ban
Martin Duffy, owner of Duffy's Bar and Grill in Osseo, said his income decreased 35 percent from March, the last month before the smoking restrictions went into effect, and May.
Jeff Ormond, who owns Gabby's Saloon and Eatery in northeast Minneapolis, said he has seen his business slip 12 percent in April and 24 percent in May.
Ormond co-founded the Minneapolis Hospitality Association, a group of more than 60 bars and restaurants in Hennepin's largest city...very business on the {MHA}list has reported losses of 10 to 50 percent of its regular monthly business in two months. He said that he has personally cut 10 of his 93 employees in the past two months.
In March, she said the VFW's gross receipts exceeded $400,000. In April and May, she said receipts are closer to $250,000. Gambling receipts, she said, are down 46 percent.
Money lost to the smoking ban, she said, is money lost for local charities.
ASH FRAY IN CITY'S PROJECTS
Brooklyn Democratic Assemblyman Felix Ortiz said his legislation would immediately require public housing complexes to make 50 percent of their apartments smoke-free.
By 2010, smoking in the projects would be outlawed completely, Ortiz said.
Nanies have been lying that they'd never go after people in their homes. Yeah, right.
Ban Damage: Diary Of A Disaster Page 2
The continuing story of a tavern owner trying to keep her business running in the face of huge losses due to a smoking ban.
The bar owners are reporting record lows, the customers who held on for a while to support us are long gone. New non-smoking customers are not showing up in droves to spend their money, in fact they don't show up at all. They were not our customers to begin with. Staff moral is at all time lows, many have left because they were laid off or had hours significantly cut which has now impacted their livelihoods. Those who still have a job are working double the hours to make the same amount of money they used to make with less hours.
The frustration reached a new high as we started the 3rd month. Organized by a VFW club whose business losses are down approximately 30 percent with gambling losses down 46%.
Restaurant, bar owners say smoking ban has hurt business
The study, released Tuesday, measured alcohol sales by wholesale distributors to Lexington hotels, bars and restaurants. Richard Thalheimer, who performed the study, said those sales dropped 9.8 percent to 13.3 percent since the ban took effect in April 2004.
Bar owners still fuming
"I used to work four days. I'm down to one day," said James O'Toole, a bartender at Dudley's Parkview Tavern in New Rochelle, who has taken another job driving a limousine. "From last summer to this summer, coming into this season, business is off by at least 45 percent. ... The bar is empty."
At the Willett House Restaurant in Port Chester, manager Dennis Gallagher said the ban landed a one-two-three punch. Revenues plunged he said he lost an estimated $50,000 in June 2003, the first month of the ban which forced him to put his by-the-hour bartenders on the payroll to make up their lost tips. And the business he ran selling cigars at the bar has closed.
"From a health standpoint and from an economic standpoint, the law has made a tremendous amount of sense and has been an overwhelming success," said Rick Lepkowski, vice president of the Westchester chapter of the American Cancer Society. "Culturally, most people are a lot less tolerant of being in places where people do smoke. In terms of education and the cultural acceptability of smoking, I believe we've really turned a corner."
Editor's note: It's not very often that a nicotine nanny will admit that their goal is to spread intolerance, but here you have it in black and white.
Smoking ban: Lost sales are cited in 2nd legal challenge
William Kozlak, of Jax Cafe, 1928 University Av. NE., said total sales were down $64,942 compared with the same month a year ago. Jeffrey Ormond, of Gabby's, 1900 NE. Marshall St., said that his gross receipts had dropped 12.4 percent.
The lost business is hurting charitable gambling as well, said Michael Kuduk of the Lions Club. He estimated revenue losses of about 25 percent.
Bar Closes Doors, Blames Smoking Ban
Julian's restaurant and bar made its last call for patrons on Saturday night. Owner Julian Sanfillipo says the smoking ban is to blame for the decline and eventual death of his business.
Julian's first opened its doors to the public in 1979.
2004-05: School year in review
A university fixture for more than a decade, Calamity Cafe, closed its doors, much to the dismay of its loyal following. The restaurant cited the smoking ban as hurting business and a reason to close.
MN Bar Owners Hurting
"Everybody is seeing declined sales," Ormond said.
"We're down between 25 and 30 percent," one bar owner said.
"This is the worst -- what you're looking at -- the worst problem," Ormond said, indicating the empty barstools. "Our bar was always semi-full."
Ormond said business was down 26 percent since the ban went in effect.
"Our bartenders' tips are down 50 percent. People come in and have one drink and say 'Hi' and then 'Bye, thank you, gotta go to the bar where we can smoke.'"
Before the smoking ban, Ormond had six people serving drinks on a Saturday night. Ormond said he was cutting it to three, because he needed fewer people to serve the declining bar clientele. In all, Ormond crossed 51 work shifts off his schedule, an amount equal to 10 full-time jobs.
Smoking ban repels visitors
APPLETON, Wis. Two groups have backed out of plans to bring their conventions here because of a ban on smoking set to take effect July 1, according to the Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The bureau's executive director, Lynn Peters, declined to name the groups, but The Post-Crescent of Appleton said one was a scotch-and-cigar-loving sportsmen's association and the other a military group with lots of older smokers as members.
Bar Closes Doors, Blames Smoking Ban
A fixture on the north side of Columbus has closed it's doors for the final time.
Julian's restaurant and bar made its last call for patrons on Saturday night. Owner Julian Sanfillipo says the smoking ban is to blame for the decline and eventual death of his business.
Both past and present patrons crowded the bar for one last time Saturday night. Julian's first opened its doors to the public in 1979.
Smoke-free law drives patrons away from some Exeter businesses
J.P.'s Exeter Pub, on Route 3, is losing the bulk of its business and is in fear of closing, according to long-time bartender Linda Osenkowski.
. . .Neil White, owner of Middle of No-where Diner, who said he wouldn't want to guess at how many customers he's lost. "It's a large amount of people who used to sit, eat and smoke," he said. "Now they might get a coffee and run. The ambiance has changed. The locals don't stay. It definitely affects revenue."
In the case of J.P.'s Exeter Pub, business relies heavily on smoking customers.
Linda Osenkowski, a 23-year employee, said, "It's bad. We're not far from going under. This is just a small, little bar that doesn't serve food. Just snacks and pizza. It's really hurt us bad."
"During the day, I have an older crowd. When you have bad weather, they can't go outside. They'll end up with pneumonia and die," Osenkowski observed. "At night, the younger crowd is just not coming in. They want to be able to have a cigarette and a beer."
State gave flawed data on smoking ban's effect
You dismissed our complaints about the data being flawed. But how else would you characterize a report on the effect of the smoking ban that left out businesses that closed after the ban? Leaving out the hundreds of businesses forced to close because of the ban clearly distorts the findings.
Even with this manipulation of the data, the report found that bar and tavern sales fell dramatically following the implementation of the ban and that they have not recovered since. Translating this into sales, the ban cost New York's bar and tavern owners more than $80 million in sales since the law went into effect.
(This article originally appeared in the Albany Times Union. The TU charges for articles more than seven days old, so this link points to a site which mirrors articles. It's a great site, BTW, for this kind of information.)
Smoking ban: Lost sales are cited in 2nd legal challenge
William Kozlak, of Jax Cafe, 1928 University Av. NE., said total sales were down $64,942 compared with the same month a year ago. Jeffrey Ormond, of Gabby's, 1900 NE. Marshall St., said that his gross receipts had dropped 12.4 percent.
The lost business is hurting charitable gambling as well, said Michael Kuduk of the Lions Club. He estimated revenue losses of about 25 percent.
Bars still hurting from smoking ban
At Rosie's Tavern in Granby, owner Rose Anthony has watched her business plummet over the better part of two years.
"My last quarter that I had to pay my sales tax, I only paid four hundred and fifty dollars. That's considerably down from fifteen, sixteen hundred I normally pay per quarter," said Mancino, owner of Fulton Ale House.
Mancino says he's tired of fighting and unless something drastically changes, he will give up his business of 35 years in September.
The Smoking Ban's Impact
"We received a call this morning that, with the smoking ban going into effect July 1st, they're going to take their party elsewhere. It was booked for 200 people, several thousands dollars worth of business, and it's amazing just 12 hours after the election that we got the call," says Joe Kohlbeck, co-owner of The Bar."
MN: Diary Of A Disaster
The continuing story of Stub and Herb's: the diary of a tavern in Minneapolis struggling to survive the new ban on smokers. Recent Entries:
We have made it through the first weekend of the smoking ban. Sales at my bar were down each day by about 25% from the week before. Our Sunday food and liquor sales were reduced by 50%. One VFW was down 65%.
Bar sales are still the number one concern. A NE landmark lost a banquet of 125 because the party could not smoke.
Several violent incidents have occurred. A bar owner in St. Paul spoke out publicly today warning women not to leave drinks unattended while they go outside to have a cigarette. The drinks have been drugged. Another bar owner on West Bank reported an altercation with the smokers and local gang members that got out of hand. A downtown club had a patron violently assaulted after going outside for a smoke. Several bars reported drug and alcohol use while customers are outside.
Every day I hear from more and more business owners telling me the problems they are experiencing thanks to the smoking ban. I have heard staff is quitting because of reduced hours and lost tips, assaults and drug and alcohol use while customers are out smoking have increased, and city streets are a mess. I have heard revenue losses in Bloomington, Minneapolis, and Hennepin County down anywhere from 13% to 65%. One VFW has already informed their city they will no longer be donating charitable gambling revenues to the city coffers.
All the while, surrounding cities and counties report record sales.
The people most affected by bans are not faceless corporate giants, but small entrepreneurs who have invested their savings, their heart and soul and years of their lives into into their business, only to see it destroyed by laws intended to protect people who don't want to be protected from a completely contrived threat.
We'll continue to post updates to this report as they become available.
Skycity downgrade blamed on smoking ban
Shares in Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd fell sharply on Friday after the New Zealand-based gaming firm downgraded its full year profit forecast due largely to the worse-than-expected impact of smoking bans.
City smoking bans drag down business for some
In Pueblo, bar and restaurant owners tick off the list of businesses that have closed since a nonsmoking ordinance was passed two years ago.
There's Mugsy's and the Town Tavern, longtime watering holes near the Rocky Mountain Steel Mill; Bruno's Beer Joynt downtown; Pepper's, a northside dance club; and the Silver Saddle, a decades-old dance hall on the south side.
Pete Meersman, president of the Colorado Restaurant Association, said Pueblo's experience is typical of a migration in Colorado cities that have banned smoking. Smoking customers simply move from restaurants and bars inside the city to those outside.
"If you take Pueblo, Fort Collins and all of these cities, there are places just outside the city limits that saw an increase in business, especially the bar crowd," Meersman said.
The Restaurant Association of Maryland found that restaurant and bar business fell by 11 percent in Talbot County during the year after a smoking ban was enacted.
"We found that the economic damage to smaller independent restaurants and bars was much more significant than large chain restaurants," said Melvin Thompson of the Restaurant Association of Maryland.
Got a Light?
Two University of North Texas economists studied the effects of the smoking ban in restaurants, and the results were released in October 2004: Dallas lost $11.8 million (or 3.6 percent) in alcoholic beverage sales in 2003 compared with 2002. You could blame it on a sliding economy, but business was booming in the smoke-friendly suburbs, where hooch sales increased from 3.2 percent (Richardson) to 7.9 percent (Plano) to 12.2 percent (Frisco). The only other city showing a loss was Irving, down 0.8 percent.
The study also claims four longtime Dallas restaurants were forced to close on account of the ban.
Smoking ban affects gaming revenue more than forecast
Macquarie analyst Steve Wheen surveyed a number of large charitable trusts that operate slot machines in New Zealand and found their gaming revenues had fallen between 11 per cent and 17 per cent compared with the levels of the previous year. . .
"The smoking ban impact felt by the charitable trusts continues to support our notion that Sky City has underestimated the potential impact of the ban," he said.
Mpls. Bar Owners Say Ban Is Bad For Business
"We're down between 25 and 30 percent," one bar owner said.
"Our bartenders' tips are down 50 percent. People come in and have one drink and say 'Hi' and then 'Bye, thank you, gotta go to the bar where we can smoke.'"
Before the smoking ban, Ormond had six people serving drinks on a Saturday night. Ormond said he was cutting it to three, because he needed fewer people to serve the declining bar clientele.
In all, Ormond crossed 51 work shifts off his schedule, an amount equal to 10 full-time jobs.
Lincoln police will issue ticket for comedian's on-stage cigar
Casady said one of his sergeants thought briefly about ticketing White during his act.
"But she said ‘No way was I going to give a ticket to a comedian on stage with a crowd of 8,000 people,' " Casady said.
Total smoking ban rejected by city
After a smoking ban was passed in Toledo, bars lost about 35 percent of their business, opponents said.
Seniors slam butt-ban plan {that}Would forbid smoking in homes
Health officials are considering prohibiting elderly smokers from lighting up in their own homes at least an hour before home-care workers are due to arrive
The nicotine nannies have constantly told us they'd never go after people in their own homes, while quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) planning to do it when the time was right.
GOP digs in heals on smoking ban
When Louisville banned smoking in public places, Outback Steakhouse partner Tom Flanagan watched dozens of customers flock to the chain’s restaurants in nearby Lafayette, where they could light up without concern. It took a year and a half to attract enough new customers to get sales back to normal.
“We can deal with that, but a lot of the mom-and-pop restaurants probably can’t,” said Flanagan, among a group that owns all 19 Outback restaurants in Colorado.
Diary Of A Disaster
30 of my 35 customers were smoke haters. This particular group of smoke haters told us they were from the American Lung Association and the Minnesota Department of Health. They ate half price appetizers and toasted the fresh air in the bar with their ice tea and water. One slipped my bartender a note saying "even if Stub and Herb's goes out of business, God will take care of him."
Casinos fear ban on smoking
Gaming revenue at Delaware’s three "racinos" - racetracks that have slot machines - fell 11 per cent in 2003 after a smoking ban was implemented in 2002.
Smoking bans burn businesses
Spending in bars and restaurants is discretionary. No one can force a smoker to go and spend money where he doesn't want to.
Lincoln Businesses Say Smoking Ban Is Killing Them
"Our sales are down about $20,000 a month," said Cheerleads Bar & Grill owner Dean Borgmann.
Borgmann is so concerned that on Monday, he and two other bar owners complained to the City Council. They reported that business has dropped 30 percent.
"Our lunch crowds have dropped by more than half. We've already cut 14 hours of operation of when we're open," Bormann said.
"I will be very lucky to survive over the summer," Borgmann said.
Max's Diner restaurants, started in 1990s, close
Business at the Max's Diner restaurants dropped 20 to 25 percent after Toledo's smoking ban went into effect, eating away profits, said Jeff Kaminsky, who has owned the restaurants with his wife, Kathy, for five years.
Fifty people will be losing their jobs. That's pretty good protection against second hand smoke.
Toledo bowling center to yield to restaurant
The bowling center's closing will occur almost 46 years to the day after it was opened by James Nopper, who said at the time he patterned the operation after developments in Florida and California.
"Part of the reason that motivated him into selling was that he was so drastically impacted by the smoking ban in Toledo," Mr. Healey said.
Restaurants say smoking ban is costing them money
In one week, the alcohol sales at Katz has dropped 20 percent, and their overall sales 13%. At P.O.E.T.S., the owner says they're down from 20 percent to 33 percent on any given day and at the Q Pub, where they stopped selling food to allow their customers to smoke, sales are down 36 percent.
Bar owner to fight fine for violating smoking ban
Robert Mogavero says he lost half of his business at Mulligan’s Sports Pub immediately after the ban took effect January 31st.
Smoking ban splits bowling fans
While smoking is bad for your health it's good for business. According to the Connecticut Bowlers' Association 49 percent of bowlers light up. Since the ban, business has bombed.
"I'm down 25 to 50 percent because of the smoking ban and that's a big chunk of my business" says Izzi.
Bar Owners Coming Together To Fight Smoking Ban
"I'm losing $300 a day," one Columbus bar owner says. "I'm near bankruptcy.
"This is all my husband and I do for a living. This is it," she says. Saying the smoking ban is destroying her profits. "I rang $37 on a Tuesday. That's from 10am to 230am," Leslie said. "I've cut all my vendors in half."Fowler says he's losing somewhere around 15% to 25% range.
"I feel bad. I've let three bartenders go," Tim Cashin, owner of "Somewhere Else" tavern says. "I'm seeing revenue loss of $1200-$1500 a week."
Some Defy Bloomington Smoking Ban
"We get a profit and loss statement every week, and the numbers are going down, so it's hurting,” said Joanna Segyde, restaurant manager.
The workers are in an environment free of second-hand smoke for the first time. On the other hand, the manager has had to lay-off a half-dozen staffers because of decreasing revenue.
Smoking ban splits bowling fans
While smoking is bad for your health it's good for business. According to the Connecticut Bowlers' Association 49 percent of bowlers light up. Since the ban, business has bombed.
"I'm down 25 to 50 percent because of the smoking ban and that's a big chunk of my business" says Izzi.
Study: Smoking ban hurt bar business
Sales tax at Talbot County bars and restaurants with liquor licenses declined by nearly $3 million, or 11 percent, from May through December 2004 when compared with the same period in 2003.
The number of bars and restaurants with liquor licenses dropped from 39 in November 2003 to 29 at the end of 2004. Talbot County went smoke-free in April 2004.
Hall Manager Says Smoke Ban Forces Closing
A widely known Lincoln pool hall is closing because of lost revenue since the city's smoking ban was implemented Jan. 1, the business' general manager says.
Laurie Anderson of Big John's Billiards said the pool hall has lost at least $10,000 in three weeks and can't make payroll. Big John's will close for good Sunday night after 21 years of business, she said.
The price to pay for smoking ban in pubs
SCOTLAND’S smoking ban is set to cost an initial 2300 jobs, force nearly 150 pubs to close and rob the Chancellor of £59 million a year in tax revenue, a new report claims.
Smoking ban leads to last orders
Mr Halkett said he lost 85% of his regulars as soon as he brought the ban into force and claims his experience proves it will not work for small traditional pubs.
Mr Halkett pulled the last pint in his bar on Tuesday and the property - a bar since 1878 - has now been put up for sale.
Smoking ban blamed for layoffs
Smoking ban hard to enforce
"I just can't afford to throw people out of here," said Roger DeRosier, a nonsmoker and the owner of Mr. D's, where business is off more than 40 percent since the smoking-ban law went into effect July 5.
Pink is the colour of paper slips being handed out at a Melfort hotel as . . . the province's smoking ban comes into effect.
"We've given our bar staff lay off notices. There is not a lot of things you can do as a bar owner. It is a very scary thing," said Waneta Goldstein, manager of the Chances R Motor Hotel of laying off two staff.
"...in Drafties our customers are requesting a smoking environment. Can we value our customer opinions? No, because our government wants to control us even more by engaging a law that eliminates our rights."
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