Smoking Ban Signed – What About The Forest?
The RTD tells us about the smoking ban that Kaine signed into law yesterday. It reads in part:
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine yesterday formally signed into law legislation that will ban smoking in nearly all public restaurants in the state.
Seated in a Virginia Beach restaurant that already has made the switch to smoke-free dining, Kaine signed Senate Bill 1105 and its companion legislation, House Bill 1703. The bills take effect Dec. 1. The legislation exempts private clubs from the ban, in addition to those restaurants that establish physically separate and independently ventilated rooms for smokers.
I was going through my head of local places that I know have smokers and would be affected due to their clientele. Stratford Grill, not been but I have been told it can be very smokey. Benny’s never really noticed smokers there but I assume they sit at the bar. Rock Falls Tavern never been not sure how smokey it gets but I assume that since they are bar with music it gets smokey. Liberty Valance I know has some heavy smokers and that is one of the reasons we haven’t gone back, nothing like sitting next to a chain smoker while eating breakfast. The Locker Room has smokers but is so small I can’t see them putting in another room.
Then we come to The Forest. The Forest has the main area where the bar is and there are always some folks smoking there. The other room which is completely separate has always been non-smoking. So will the The Forest remain basically “as is” or will the “separate ventilation” aspect be a sticking point?
It will be interesting to see what happens to the restaurants/bars I mentioned. Does anyone think our local places will have a separate room (like Legend) or will most if not all of our joints go smoke free?
I’d say it would depend on who butters their bread and how important smokers as customers are to their bottom line.
If they can afford to lose them, they’ll go smoke free, if not, they’ll go the separate room route.
So, could an establishment become a private club by charging a “membership fee” to enter for the night? While restaurants might not see this as viable, I would think bars could use this “nightly membership fee” as a cover charge of sorts and avoid this all together.
The outside patio is seperately ventilated, so they meet that requirement and will therefore probably stay “as is” although I do not know for sure.
Mike, personally I think it makes sense to have no smoking in restaurants, but allow it in any bar that wants to. However, ABC laws in Virginia do not permit bars, over 50% of revenue must be from food.
I have to think a fine establishment like the Locker Room would just ignore the ban. I cant imagine a that type of place even existing without cigs. I doubt any of the clientele would report them for smoking violations, and I doubt the cigarette vice squad even knows such a place exists. Kind of sounds like a shoe store. There is no way that place does 50% revenue in food anyways. However, if they do go non smoking, I am staring a shuffle board league.
[...] was wondering back in March how The Forest was going to deal with the new smoking ban, now from their Facebook page we learn [...]