A growing number of restaurants and cafés in Dublin's city centre are banning smoking on their outdoor terraces, with Joe Macken of Jo'Burger saying "we found we are getting a really, really good response to it".
Metro Café on South William Street and Jo'Burger on Castle Market have both implemented no-smoking zones in their outdoor terraces, both of which serve food, the latter having such a policy for nearly a year now, reports Thejournal.ie. Currently 30 per cent of Metro Café's outdoor terrace seating is designated as no-smoking, however co-founder Niall Kavangh has plans to increase it to 80 per cent in the future, saying that the delay has been because "we’re waiting on the heaters to come".
"[With] no-smoking laws you’re not allowed to smoke in a workplace, and a terrace is a workplace," points out Macken. "We get some people that just stand outside the door [to smoke]. Most people get the whole buzz about it."
"It’s like going on holidays to somewhere that is not Europe and someone lights up in a restaurant: you are in shock. When you are in public spaces and you smell cigarettes it’s just really off-putting. Life changes and life moves on and we are making healthier choices. Everyone enjoys a cigarette – I do – but not when you’re eating. There’s a real time and a place, it’s like smoking in a car," adds Macken.
Adrian Cummins of the Restaurants Association of Ireland said: "I haven’t heard of any member talking about it – by and large it doesn’t seem to be an issue and I haven’t heard any consumers giving out. Within my knowledge they are within their rights to do it. It’s up to the restaurant owners to do what they want to do and we would support them."
