Smoking ban in Spain: Everyone wants to sit outside

By Simon Balzert Jul 28, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Madrid - A cigarette and a cup of coffee is an old habit for many people in Spain, but since strict new smoking rules took effect in January, the operators of bars and restaurants have been forced to make adjustments to accommodate customers who smoke.

The solution most of them have turned to is tables and chairs set up on sidewalks in front of bars and restaurants. The open-air spaces are known simply as terraces and are in style as never before in a country where people tend to live their lives in the street anyway compared with other Europeans.

Though outdoor seating existed in Spain before the new anti-smoking law was implemented on January 1, terraces weren't nearly as widespread as they are now. It was always too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer, and traffic noise also put people off. Though the weather hasn't changed and neither has the traffic, terraces are booming in Madrid and elsewhere.

The new rules tightened anti-smoking restrictions that went into effect in 2006. That initial law banned smoking in the workplace. Now smoking is banned in discos and taverns and no special areas for smokers are permitted although there are proportionally more smokers in Spain than in most other EU countries. Violators risk a fine of between 30 euro and 600,000 euro.

The numerous open-air terraces have completely changed the street scene in the Spanish capital.

'I started planning my terrace a year ago so that I wouldn't lose guests who smoke,' said Oscar Lopez, who runs La Ribera, a bar in Madrid. He has had the bar for eight years, but the idea of setting up tables and chairs outside came to him only in connection with the smoking ban. 'People like it and it's worthwhile to me,' he said.

The trend is visible outside the capital as well. North-east of Madrid in the city of Guadalajara there were 40 per cent more permit applications for terraces in the summer months than in the year before. In Lugo in north-western Spain the number doubled compared with 2010.

Restaurant and bar owners do not receive these permits for free. Lopez paid the city of Madrid 2,000 euro (2,832 dollars) for his permit, which allows him to place tables in front of his bar for seven months. Next year he will have to renew the permit. He said he plans to reapply for permission because he believes he profits from it.

There were other consequences to the new law. When the terraces began opening immediately after it took effect, bars and restaurants that ordered outdoor heaters had to wait for them to be delivered and people who live near bars and restaurants started complaining about the noise resulting from smokers standing outside.

Before the anti-smoking rules took effect, the idea of sitting at a table outside a bar or restaurant hardly ever came up. In Lugo, for example, not a single bar applied for a permit to set up tables and chairs outside in the winter months. This year nearly every manager of a bar or restaurant that has space outside wants a permit for the entire year.

Lopez said that the warm weather months are enough for his outdoor setup for smokers. To accommodate them in the winter months he would need a heater and a transparent tent.

'I would not receive a permit for such a construction here,' he said, noting that Madrid's Rastro flea market takes place every Sunday almost directly in front of the door to his establishment.