Irish Smoking Ban
When the Irish Government instituted a national ban on smoking in workplaces last spring -- including bars and restaurants -- the hospitality industry claimed that the measure would mean the death of that timeless tourist attraction, the traditional Irish pub.
In fact, the Irish haven't stopped drinking or socializing; the smoking ban has simply changed how they go about it -- with much of the action moving outdoors, where smoking is still legal.
Gone, it seems, are the days when pubs felt they had to preserve their customers' privacy with frosted-glass windows and drawn curtains shutting out the outside world.
Now that forbidding veil is lifted. Bars with adequate sidewalk space have set up tables and chairs, with gas heaters roaring overhead, for alfresco drinking during winter.
Nightclubs place seats in a cordoned-off area outside, giving patrons a break from dancing to smoke stylishly for passers-by.
On Dublin streets like South William, a strip of trendy bars and cafes, locals can't walk a block without stopping to chat with friends at outdoor tables.
Newer pubs anticipated the smoking ban in their design. At the Market Bar, on Fade Street, an enormous drinking hall in a former sausage factory that opened in 2003, the soaring atrium at its entrance doubles as a smoking area and an occasional escape from the crowds inside.
The smoking ban also accelerated a move toward different types of drinking.
Renovations at the Clarendon, at Clarendon and Chatham Streets, last year transformed it from a forgettable dive into an elegantly hip glass-fronted restaurant and bar that serves more than a dozen wines by the glass, not to mention goat-cheese tarts and Thai fish cakes.
And full wine bars are thriving: The Ely, at 22 Ely Place, off St. Stephen's Green, serves stylish food at modest prices; in cold months Dowling's, in Upper Baggot Street, draws people to its roaring fire as well as its generous glasses of merlot.
Article credit: Brian Lavery, www.nytimes.com
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