In this age of respect and understanding, I do not know why some establishments and coffee shops still flout the law regarding a smoking ban in public places.

The other day, I had to visit Almoayyad Tower in Seef. I wanted to have a coffee on the ground floor by the entrance facing HSBC bank. The place was full of people smoking. When I asked why there isn’t a separate area as declared by the Health Ministry, I was told that the smoking area is above the non-smoking one. I noticed that this did not have any partitions and that the smoke drifts all over the place. So I left.

I thought that I would go to the Costa Coffee on the first floor. Again, the situation was the same, smokers are kept in a closed area, but the doors are kept open all the time and the smoke fills the area outside. When you want to order your coffee or drink you need to go to the order station and guess where the station is located? Yes you got it, it is conveniently located in the smoking area. So, even if you are not a smoker, you are still around smoke, while waiting for your coffee.

As someone said before, the law regarding smoking is not worth the paper it is written on as no body in Bahrain respects it. I have been to Oman and even in the smallest local coffee shops the law is applied. But Oman not Bahrain.

I hope that those responsible for implementing the law see to the above and do not say that it is a private building. It is not, it is a public place.

Ebrahim

source: Daily News

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One Response to “Why are smoking laws blatantly flouted?”

1. Bob says:

   December 21, 2009 at 4:45 pm

   Here in Chicago, many small neighborhood bars have to ignore the ban to stay in business. Why is that so hard to contemplate?