Via Flickr/Jocelyn
George Orwell established the standard for modern dystopias by making Big Brother part of our lexicon in his classic novel 1984. Protagonist Winston Smith couldn’t do much away from the watchful eye of the omnipresent government. He could, however, smoke in a bar. Granted, 1984 was published long before the health implications of smoking were understood, but even in the most autocratic, tyrannical state of Orwell’s imagination, the government would not go so far as to ban smoking in bars.
If you enjoy a cigarette with your cocktail, however, your days of smoking indoors in St. Louis bars are numbered. The five year exemptions to the 2011 St. Louis smoking ban expire on January 1, 2016. Local businesses are dealing with the new law in different ways.
Some establishments, such as Black Thorn Pub & Pizza in Tower Grove South and Tom’s Bar & Grill in the Central West End, simply gave in five years ago. They decided it wasn’t worth the effort only to delay the inevitable and have been smoke-free for years. Krueger's in Clayton went smoke-free in January of this year and business improved, according to the owner.
The Vine Mediterranean Café and Market on South Grand stopped serving hookah earlier this year. They said this smoking ban wouldn’t prohibit hookah, but another local law, which comes into effect April 2016, would force them to stop anyway.
The law, as you might expect, is complicated. Patrons may smoke a cigar, have a beer and watch football in the back room at The Hill Cigar Co. because it is B.Y.O.B. No alcohol, only tobacco, is sold on the premises, apparently making it exempt. The Riverfront Times reported that one bar in Soulard is fighting the law with their gaming license, since casinos are exempt from the smoking ban.
Some businesses are working behind the scenes to get an extension to the original exemption. These owners are pleading with the city as they believe the ban will hurt, possibly even kill, their businesses. Some of our favorite dive bars certainly won’t have the same smoke-filled mystique come January 1.
Colorado Bob’s Ship of Fools on Morganford Road joined a handful of south side bars to hire an attorney to fight the ban in the courts. Rosie’s Place in the Central West End said they are working with The Trophy Room in Southwest Garden in their effort to repeal the law as well. Who knows, maybe a dive bar union of sorts will come out of all of this.
While many are fighting the ban, some bars are making accommodations for smokers. Colorado Bob’s and Bastille in Soulard said they would provide comfortable outdoor spaces for smokers should their efforts to fight the ban prove unsuccessful. For bars without the space to make such accommodations, smokers may simply be pushed to the sidewalk or street. Pedestrians may, thus, walk through clouds of smoke in public spaces because smokers are not allowed to smoke inside privately held property. That makes sense, right?
