# Smoking in Europe **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 10, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976 "2010-05-10T22:58:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/1 "2010-05-10T22:58:05Z")
Europeans, are your local and national governments oppressing your right to smoke in the cafes, restaurants and pubs? Can you smoke within 3m of a building? Can you smoke in your parks ? Just asking you know, cause a lot of people around here in North America think Europeans have less freedoms. I’m thinking not so. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/2 "2010-05-10T23:07:17Z")
In the UK, France, the Netherlands and Belgium (no experience with other countries) are all non smoking in indoor public places. My right to to get second hand cancer has improved immensely. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/3 "2010-05-10T23:35:49Z")
No idea, but when I was in Germany a few years ago they had 2 sections - smoking and chain smoking … Didn’t see anybody smoking in grocery or other food stores though … ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/4 "2010-05-10T23:49:04Z")
No one gives a shit where you smoke in Eastern Europe. That anyone might have a problem with being around cigarette smoke is a wacky idea. One time, the handyman dude at my school, Ivan, came over to fix something in my house. After awhile, I smelled a cigarette and I was like “wtf is he smoking _inside my house?_” I handled this in a totally passive aggressive way, sadly. Me: What is that smell? Ivan: I’m smoking a cigarette. Me: Oh. _insert me making a face_ Ivan: _goes back to working_ Me: _sigh_ Whatever, I was a guest in their country. One of the restaurants in my village had five or six tables. One of them had a sign that said “МАСА ЗА НЕПУШАЧИ” (TABLE FOR NON-SMOKERS). Right in the middle. Awesome. I doubt anyone paid attention to the sign anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Gustav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Gustav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gustav)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/5 "2010-05-10T23:49:58Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > Europeans, are your local and national governments oppressing your right to smoke in the cafes, restaurants and pubs? Well, I mean, isn’t that kind of circular? If governments are oppressing our right to smoke in cafes, restaurants and pubs then we don’t _have_ that right, so there’s nothing to oppress. But yeah, smokers are generally constrained to private homes and outside. Inside public establishments is typically smoke free. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/6 "2010-05-11T00:01:08Z")
Britain is looking to require a personal smoking license to be purchased yearly. Britain currently has a pub smoking ban. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/7 "2010-05-11T00:45:42Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > No idea, but when I was in Germany a few years ago they had 2 sections - smoking and chain smoking … Didn’t see anybody smoking in grocery or other food stores though … That’s outdated. There is still smoking in pubs, not in most other enclosed spaces. Restaurants are mostly non-smoking, except for pubs that serve food, and those are often Raucher Lokal (smoker’s place) or have smoking areas. You’ll definitely encounter a lot more smoking, especially outdoors, than in the USA but it’s nothing like it was 10 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/8 "2010-05-11T01:09:56Z")
I know you didn’t ask, but Japan is extremely smoker-friendly, too. Lots of great restaurants where you can’t smell your own food over the stench of everyone else’s smoke. ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/9 "2010-05-11T04:29:45Z")
Not sure of the point of the OP unless it’s to imply that more liberal smoking laws are indicative of having more rights. I think Germany allows state governments to decide. In Berlin and Munich you couldn’t smoke in most places but in Thuringia, you couldnsmoke everywhere. Spain allowed it in some places like bars but banned it elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/10 "2010-05-11T08:20:39Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > That’s outdated. There is still smoking in pubs, not in most other enclosed spaces. Restaurants are mostly non-smoking, except for pubs that serve food, and those are often Raucher Lokal (smoker’s place) or have smoking areas. > > You’ll definitely encounter a lot more smoking, especially outdoors, than in the USA but it’s nothing like it was 10 years ago. This. Hessen banned smoking in restaurants about a year or two ago. Over the 14 years I’ve been here, I’ve seen a definite downturn in public smoking. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/11 "2010-05-11T08:24:56Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Restaurants are mostly non-smoking, except for pubs that serve food, and those are often Raucher Lokal (smoker’s place) or have smoking areas. I went into a pub in Duisburg a while ago that was turned into a smokers’ club, so we had to apply for membership before we were allowed to order our beer. In Sweden it’s strictly non-smoking inside restaurants except in designated smoking areas, read gas chambers, where you are not allowed to bring any drinks or food. I remember when I visited a school in Denmark, which by tradition has always been very liberal towards smoking (I have no idea what’s it like nowadays), in the late 70ies. Some of us went away to have a smoke somewhere and the headmaster came after them to see what they were up to. When he learned that they just wanted a cigarette he said that it was probably better if they went into the teachers’ lounge as the teachers were often rebuked by the pupils for smoking in the school library, where BTW the assistant headmaster had his office and regularly enjoyed a pipe while working. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/12 "2010-05-11T08:30:46Z")
In Spain, you can’t smoke inside most workplaces, although they may designate specific locations as “smoking rooms” instead of requiring smokers to step outside. You can smoke outside (except in locations where it is forbidden for safety reasons, think chemical factories). Bars and restaurants below a certain size (90m[sup]2[/sup] IIRC) must be designated either smoking or non-smoking. If they are above that size they must have separate smoking and non-smoking areas. Some bars which were just above did some work to make the kitchen (doesn’t count in the meters) or the bathrooms (count half) bigger, so they could just choose one instead of having to divide the place. The size was specifically chosen because it’s a very popular one, there’s many locations right below it. Since I’m a non smoker and I don’t particularly enjoy being in smoky rooms, I guess I count as one of the oppressors. Cool! Is this the first step towards world domination? Can I sign up as a Head Henchperson? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/13 "2010-05-11T08:49:45Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Britain is looking to require a personal smoking license to be purchased yearly. Cite? If you mean “a pressure group” is looking for it then yes probably. There’s also one recommending banning smoking in one’s own private car. Doesn’t mean the country as a whole, or even the government (when we get one) is thinking about it. > [@](#): > > Britain currently has a pub smoking ban. The UK has a ban in _all_ workplaces. No smoking rooms allowed. This is to protect the health of the people working there. There is also some ordinance about how near to the building you can smoke, but I’ve never seen it enforced. Ireland’s ban is almost exactly the same. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/14 "2010-05-11T09:51:34Z")
Oddly, I miss the smell, though I never smoked. When I was a boy, it was how you knew where the grown-ups were. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/15 "2010-05-11T09:59:44Z")
In the UK smoking on railway stations is banned, this even includes open platforms which have no buildings or shelters. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/16 "2010-05-11T10:27:35Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > This is to protect the health of the people working there. That was the argumentation from the restaurant workers’ union when Sweden introduced a smoking ban in restaurants, which struck me as odd as I didn’t know a group of people that were as heavy smokers as wait staff. But it turned out very well and a bar owner (sometimes smoker) I know said afterwards that “it’s great to come home in the evening not reeking like a smoke stack”. ---
**Author:** ![nicole1912](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@nicole1912](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicole1912)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/17 "2010-05-11T10:53:32Z")
> [@Rayne\_Man](#): > > In the UK smoking on railway stations is banned, this even includes open platforms which have no buildings or shelters. Which used to annoy me deeply when I was a commuter who smoked, given the apparent inability of the various train companies operating between London and Brighton to run trains even vaguely according to a timetable… Edit: To add something slightly more relevant to the topic, smoking is becoming increasingly unacceptable in public places in most of Europe, I think. Fines for smoking in the wrong place are usually quite high (though often unenforced) - although I was amused on a trian in Italy yesterday to see a sign saying “Smoking is forbidden on any part of this train, even if you see signs saying otherwise. The fine for breaking this rule is €7.” I thought at first a typo, but it was repeated in all the languages on the sign. They’re obviously not trying very hard… ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/18 "2010-05-11T13:10:30Z")
The Czech Republic still has no laws regulating smoking although after July 1, a new law will make for separate smoking areas in public places (restaurants, etc.). It is not likely to be enforced (our favorite restaurant told us they would make no changes). Every time we go out for a meal, we have to wash our clothes afterwards. With no changes in sight, we are putting our apartment in Prague up for sale because we are tired of dealing with it. We’re planning on moving back to Dubai, although we may end up in Turkey which is also non-smoking… as is Syria from a few weeks ago. If anyone is interested in buying a nice flat in Prague (2br near to the center, but outside the tourist zone), you can send me a PM. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/19 "2010-05-11T13:22:14Z")
Thanks for the update on the Czech Republic, **Desert Nomad**. When I was there in 1995, they had the highest lung cancer rate in the world for middle aged men. Ironically (or perhaps appropriately) the international lung cancer conference was held in Prague that year. The Czechs I talked to about it basically said that after decades of communism, no way was anyone going to tell them they couldn’t smoke. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976/20 "2010-05-11T13:28:28Z")
It’s easy for kids to buy cigarettes here… 14-year-olds do it all the time as you can see them standing around outside the schools smoking. The only place I see no smoking is on the buses, trams and the metro. Austria is almost as bad but it’s been a few years since I spent any real time there… mostly I just arrive by train and go to Vienna airport which has more flight options than Prague. Emirates starts direct flights from Prague to Dubai on July 1. I am thinking that is a sign. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-in-europe/538976.md?page=2)