Oh how I YEARN for the old days here!!!!! Smoking or non!!!! oh my are you lucky or what!
My favorite place to eat almost closed their doors after the first smoking ban in Maine in 2000.
The owner then invested in a very expensive liquor license to once again allow smoking and business started to boom again.
They then remodeled. The place is beautiful. 4 big ceiling air purifiers. Full menu. A beautiful glass enclosed non-smoking section. Sign on the entrance door "This is a smoking establishment. No one under 18 admitted without guardian."
It is a Sports Bar with the full computer golf game across the back wall; bunch of big TV's. Just beautiful.
But that still wasn't good enough for the state. A full no smoking ban went into effect a year ago January. I went once after the ban, was so miserable that I couldn't sit there like old times and enjoy the evening that I haven't put myself through that again.
And do you think the state will reimburse this business owner for spending his own money to be able to accommodate everyone? You can bet they will not.
To all you smokers who can still go into town or the city and go into a restaurant and/or bar or tavern.....order your meal and beverage and smoke, you better treasure every day that you can.
Maine went totally smoke free in 2003. That was my recreation: going out for meals a few times a month. It was wonderful. I didn't know how wonderful it was until we smokers in Maine lost that right.
So, take it from me! Enjoy the places that can continue to accommodate you and the ones who still have smoking sections!