Smoking and the bandits

It’s late Friday night in Dublin’s north inner city borough of Smithfield. The smoking ban is in its fifth and perhaps most testing day, as the city’s drinkers prime themselves for their first cigarette-free weekend on the town. hotpress is taking to the night to chart the response on both sides of the pub door. In a typically Irish twist of fate, the afternoon’s blue skies have transformed into a blanket of dark clouds and, in the gutters outside the pubs, the inevitable rain has turned the mounds of cigarette butts into pools of gruel-like sludge.

Under the awnings of the Cobblestone pub, groups of smokers gather in compliant huddles while inside, the pub heaves with the usual crowd of revellers, the only difference being the heightened sense of smell: perfume, body odour and – most shocking of all – beer. Seated at the end of the bar is Matt, a Michigan native who has made the Cobblestone his local for the last two years. While he hasn’t noticed a decline in atmosphere or crowds, this non-smoker does admit he misses the smell of cigarettes. He’s also quick to point out the rise of a new kerb-side culture: “It’s a phenomenon. People are saying ‘Hi’ to each other on the streets and outside the pub now. That’s the most interesting thing I’ve noticed about it.”
Outside we come across John and Helen, whose opinions on the ban are divided, despite both of them being smokers. As we talk, hotpress bears witness to the aforementioned “phenomenon” – a gaggle of 13-year-old girls in identical tracksuits: “Y’awright? Howaya? Isn’t it shit all these smokers standing outside?!” Opinion duly noted.
Morale is low on the corner outside Walsh’s pub in Stoneybatter. It’s not yet midnight but John and his smoking mates are feeling the pinch. As if it isn’t enough to endure the elements, they’re also dodging the buses that hurtle around the corner, hotpress narrowly avoids Death By City Imp on two occasions during the exchange. The group have decided to continue their drinking session at home, having fought the law – and lost – at a gig the previous night: “The bass player started having a cigarette so we took that as a lead,” explains John. “Then all of a sudden these two bouncers appeared, picked me up and threw me out the emergency exit. It took 10 minutes of talking to the doorman before he let me back in.
“People will eventually get used to it but at the moment it’s a big change. For myself and my friends, we go drinking a lot and probably about 70% of us smoke, so it’s a big change in our social patterns.”
Leaning against the wall a little further up is Tony, a middle-aged smoker of 23 years. He welcomes the ban and says he’s determined to give up so he can join his friends inside. They are all reformed smokers: “I definitely smoke less with the ban than I would otherwise because I have to come outside,” Tony notes. “It’s an extra incentive to quit.”
Just off the Quays, at the Dice Bar, the outdoor amenities are of a luxury standard. The rain has eased off and the smokers are availing of the large gas heaters and al fresco seating area (ashtrays and security provided). Although not quite a street party, the atmosphere is decidedly upbeat – the girl busting moves on the street corner looks happy enough.
Proprietor Ciaran, and his friend Ross, are amongst the smokers. Although he disagrees with aspects of the ban, Ciaran is practical about accommodating the 44% of his clientele that choose to smoke and he hasn’t noticed a decrease in takings.
“At the moment people think it’s a bit of a novelty having to go out in the street and smoke but I don’t know whether they’re going to be thinking that way in six months time,” he says. “I think it’ll definitely affect many bars and big clubs around town. You’re paying €10 in and you’re down in some basement with a thousand people and it’ll take you ten or 15 minutes to get outside and have a cigarette. And the drug dealers no longer have to get into the clubs, they just hang out outside.”
Ross, toking on his cigar, insists that the Government will see the effects of the smoking ban when the public go to the polls: “I’m not saying that we should bow down to smokers,” he explains, “all I’m saying is that maybe they have a vote too. Should we really turn around and ignore those people and say ‘No, you don’t actually have rights and we should push you out onto the kerb?’”
Down at Ireland’s oldest pub, The Brazen Head, smokers convene beneath a newly-erected, Guinness-emblazoned, tarpaulin canopy in the pub’s central courtyard. The adjoining bars are noticeably vacant compared to throng outside. Pat, a smoker and pub goer of 15 years is impressed with the pub’s forward planning and admits that the ban will have an effect on where he chooses to drink. “Pubs with better outdoor facilities will certainly be preferable to smokers over places with just a stretch of busy pavement outside the front door,” he says.
Indeed, further along the Quays, Sin É – complete with ‘smoking alley’ out the back – seems to be doing good business. The cordoned-off alley to the rear of the pub has been covered in gravel stones to create a makeshift garden with tables and chairs (currently vacated thanks to the rain). It’s here that hotpress comes across Mags and Marianne, two Fine Arts students in their early twenties who are both social smokers.
“I think it’s nice in this kind of pub because they provide a beer garden, and it’s good to get some fresh air and have a gossip,” says Mags. “But I do miss having the smoke in the pub. You can see other people more clearly now,” she adds laughing.

A double-Jack Daniels later and hotpress is ready for some hardcore investigative journalism. We have come equipped with a packet of perfectly legal,albeit disgusting, herbal cigarettes, and intend to exercise our right to smoke them. Two puffs in to the Honeyrose, and its foul odour catches the attention of those nearby, who are quick to point out the offence. The bar staff however are slower off the mark, but accept our plea of innocence with little protest.
The same cannot be said for the encore performance at The Porterhouse in Temple Bar. Within moments of lighting up, hotpress is accosted by a burly barman and an even burlier bouncer who insist that “if you read the fine print” it is within a publican’s rights to ban smoking of all cigarettes, including the humble herbal. He also observed that the smell was “fucking disgusting”. Aside from that, the looks of horror on the fellow punters’ faces are utterly priceless. Being in our best interests to extinguish the delectable marshmallow and rose petal blend, we oblige. (For the record, we later checked with the Smokefree Compliance Line and were told that while it is not illegal to smoke herbals in the workplace – the legislation prohibits only tobacco products – it is at a publican’s discretion whether or not herbal smoking is permitted on the premises.)
Sean, an engineer from Dundrum, is drinking nearby. He and his mates are all non-smokers and are delighted with the new developments: “They should have brought it in sooner,” he says, “It’s the best thing ever. This time last week, you couldn’t even see the door of my local because of the smoke.”
The group are in their mid-twenties and say that most of their smoking friends are giving up because of the ban. “Smoky bars used to be a part of our culture because most of the people that drank smoked as well, but in the last ten or twenty years the majority of people who go to pubs don’t smoke.
“It’s a positive development, especially for the next generation,” he continues, “The 11 and 12-year-olds of today are going to grow up in a culture where you go to a pub or a nightclub and you don’t smoke.”
It’s just gone 2am and hotpress moves on towards Grafton St, where we find Dermot lurking outside Bruxelles. As the rain starts again, he is perhaps the happiest smoker on the street: “I work as a barman and I think it’s a great idea,” he says.
“In the long run it’s a good thing for the public too – smoking is bad for you. I will give up over this. To work in a smoke-free environment should be a right, not a privilege. And it also means less cleaning. Ashtrays are a bitch!”