I remember asking for the no-smoking area in a large café some years back, and being shown to a single table.
... the country's efforts to legislate against smoking have always failed. Advertising by tobacco companies was curtailed as far back as 1976, but flagrant breaches were tolerated. It took France until 1987 - more than 20 years after Britain - to produce a study showing that smoking was responsible for 50,000 deaths a year. After a further six years, the Loi Evin introduced the concept of smoke-free areas in restaurants and offices, but the legislation was never enforced. http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2233255,00.html
... the country's efforts to legislate against smoking have always failed. Advertising by tobacco companies was curtailed as far back as 1976, but flagrant breaches were tolerated. It took France until 1987 - more than 20 years after Britain - to produce a study showing that smoking was responsible for 50,000 deaths a year. After a further six years, the Loi Evin introduced the concept of smoke-free areas in restaurants and offices, but the legislation was never enforced.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2233255,00.html
It was ridiculous - the smoke just filled the "no smoking" areas too and often the area was at the back, far from the door, where all the smoke seemed to gather. In one Paris cafe they had about one meter of the bar designated non-smoking! When I occupied it and complained when a guy lit up right beside me the bar maid reassured him it was OK. Apparently there are only about 26% daily smokers in France - surprisingly small given the amount of them in bars, etc. But a survey found that about 60% of people said they would go to bars and restaurants more often IF there was a smoking ban - so fears about loss of custom may be misplaced. In fact the huge La Coupole became smoke-free in 2006 and had no loss of customers. 70% of the French support the ban and 50% of smokers support it.
Some of the Parisian cafes and bars, meanwhile, are regarding the health ministry pamphlet 'Sortons du brouillard' ('Let's get out of the fog') as providing a creative challenge. 'The ban does not apply to outdoor terraces which are partially open,' said Mickael Serrain, manager at Cafe Bastille, who faces a potential €750 ban if he gets it all wrong. http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2233255,00.html
Some of the Parisian cafes and bars, meanwhile, are regarding the health ministry pamphlet 'Sortons du brouillard' ('Let's get out of the fog') as providing a creative challenge. 'The ban does not apply to outdoor terraces which are partially open,' said Mickael Serrain, manager at Cafe Bastille, who faces a potential €750 ban if he gets it all wrong.
So it's not quite bliss; one of the things I like about Nice is the climate and being able to sit outside in the evenings most of the year. But now terraces, which often had smokers, will now be packed with them.
Meanwhile it's been unusually rainy here for a few days, so I've had plenty of opportunity for schadenfreude as smokers huddle outside, under what shelter they can get :-) Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.
