And apart from a few establishments, managers, bouncers and the like did not even bother to tell people not to smoke when they were in breach of the law. Most establishments did have prominent signs indicating that they were non-smoking establishments but, as said earlier, enforcement was rather lacking.

But there were positive aspects, in some establishments, the rules were enforced and people were simply going outside for a quick cigarette before returning to their partying.

Although many patrons, smokers and non-smokers alike, seemed annoyed at the decision by some to light up and smoke, not many bothered to stop anyone or complain.

Perhaps what was even more annoying is that certain establishments had both smoking and non-smoking areas. However, there were still some bright sparks who decided to smoke in the non-smoking part, even though there was a designated smoking area.

The smoking areas were sealed off as required by law, but the amount of cigarette smoke in the non-smoking area was quite heavy indeed.

The GRTU was up in arms over the weekend and said that its predictions of drastic loss of business had already become a reality by the weekend. They claim that people are either defying the law, leaving the establishment or just standing outside and smoking. Coupled with the bottle-ban, things do not look rosy at all.

Some smokers had a better attitude and said: “If the law is there, it is there, I’ll just go outside for a cigarette or go to the smoking area. If it is there I will obey it, but I get very frustrated when I abstain and I see other people smoke as if things were as they were before.”

Many people spoken to echoed this sentiment. Another man was not quite so law-observing. Asked whether he would stick to the rules, he promptly lit up a cigarette in a no-smoking area and said: “What rules?”

From what could be seen over the weekend, the majority of smokers did stick to the rules, but as mentioned before, a substantial minority did not. Perhaps one of the biggest problems is that there are insufficient police in Paceville – and that was even before the new duty of patrolling for smokers came into effect.

However, if the law is to be enforced, there certainly needs to be more patrols. Asked about the effects on business, different managers and owners had different views. The trend is that places that have space with tables and chairs outside were not really affected that much.

However, other places that had no outside areas were hit quite hard. Clubs were not really affected very badly, but they did admit that a substantial number of patrons were flouting the rules.