|
Verdict is in... Smoking law hurting clubs
But at least the restaurants are still doing ok..... until winter comes at least. It's time to do away with this communist law and let the club owners decide what's best based on what their clientele wants. And it's obvious that most of the nightlife clientele want the option to smoke.
| quote: | Club patrons huff, puff in alley
Smoking bylaw makes puffers take it outside
`It's so disgusting,' says one in alley smelling of urine
TARANNUM KAMLANI
STAFF REPORTER
Brandon Pimentel screwed up his nose in disgust as he pulled a cigarette out of a pack and lit it. He was standing in an alley behind Fluid, a nightclub on Richmond St. W. in Toronto's Entertainment District. The alleyway reeks of urine, but it's the only place he and other patrons can go for a smoke.
Fluid's management had to find a way to accommodate smoking patrons once the city's ban on smoking in bars and nightclubs went into effect June 1. So they roped off an area around the club's back door, where a staff member is on duty to ensure no one brings a drink outside and no one tries to sneak in the back without paying the cover.
"It's so disgusting coming back here to smoke," Pimentel, 20, said. "No one wants to wait in line and pay 10 bucks (cover charge) to get in for this."
In the post-bylaw era, clubs with patios suddenly have an advantage over the competition — at least in the summer.
At Fluid, where there is no patio, around 50 people were crammed into the roped-off area, all puffing away under the watchful eye of Darren Douglas. The alley had plenty of cigarette butts by closing time, but "we power-wash it every day," Douglas said with a shrug.
"What can we do? It's the one exit we can control," said manager Vito Boragina. "It's not financially worth it to install a smoking room, since the city's going to shut them down in three years. We have no choice but to send them out to the back."
Down the road is Tonic, another club that also lacks a smoking room and patio.
Gazing across Richmond St. to the large patio outside nightclub Fez Batik, Paul, Tonic's burly "host" and gatekeeper, said business is down 30 per cent since the smoking ban went into effect. "Most people just leave and don't come back. And that's where they go," he said, pointing to Fez.
But many patrons were not that bothered by the ban, not while the weather is warm enough to dash outside for a smoke. Tonic shares its makeshift outdoor smoking area with another club, System Soundbar. Clubbers mingled underneath the white tarp decorated with fairy lights. "While the weather stays nice this is not so bad," said Brent, 21. "You get to meet people in the other club."
"And you'll smoke less, because if there's a really hot DJ playing a set, you're not going to want to leave just to have a cigarette," said Diane Powers, 23.
Most bars in Little Italy on College St. have patios and, during the summer months at least, can keep their smoking clientele. But not newly opened Beba Lounge and Bar.
Co-owner Nikolas Dimas said he's had to hire an extra person to stand outside and keep an eye on smokers to make sure the drinks stay indoors.
"You're up the creek if you have no patio," he said.
Nearby Coco Lezzone also has no patio, but it does have a large, elegant metal ashtray filled with sand atop a waist-high stand for people to gather around and enjoy a post-dinner smoke. Owner Steven Salari said he hasn't noticed much of a change in business. "You lose a smoker, but you gain a non-smoker," he said.
For Hamed Afshar, 25, the smoking ban has meant his bar, Paaeez, had to undergo an identity change. Paaeez's specialty was that patrons could enjoy a hookah, a traditional Middle Eastern water-pipe with tobacco. All the hookahs now sit forlornly in a corner of the bar.
"It gave the bar a good cachet, it defined our business," said manager Chris Clapinson.
Afshar plans to put a bench outside the bar with some hookahs to entice customers.
Patron Michelle Farley, 30, smoking outside with a friend, was undeterred by the ban. "We'd rather be at a beautiful place and smoke outside than be at a ratty place with a patio," she said |
|
