Restrictions on smoking affect eating outlets' World Cup business

CROWDS of drinking and smoking football fans packed into coffee shops beaming "live" matches are a common sight on weekends — more so now with the World Cup fever well under way.

But when the extension of the smoking ban kicked in last Saturday, some football fans gave up their seats rather than forsake their puffs.

A check conducted over the weekend by Today found that while the businesses of larger eateries were largely unaffected, those who ran smaller coffee shops reported dips of as much as 30 per cent in their business — as the number of smoking patrons sometimes outstripped the seats available to them, especially during peak periods and screenings of the World Cup matches.

Food court and coffeeshop owners said they had to turn away a handful of customers over the past two days. One coffeeshop owner — who wanted to be known as Mr Ng — could only designate one out of his stall's eight tables for smokers.
"Business was definitely affected.
On Saturday afternoon, three regular customers insisted on smoking but we didn't have enough seats for them. They were unhappy and offered to pay the fine if they were caught. But I told them that I would also get into trouble. In the end, they left without eating."

Mr Zuraimee Sarip, 34, a regular at the Koufu food court in Punggol and a smoker, said that customers who wanted to smoke were forced to stand while watching the England-Portugal match on Saturday night.

"People usually like to buy drinks and smoke while watching soccer," he said. "On Saturday night, I think more than 50 people were standing around and smoking, squeezing into the smoking corner, as there were not enough seats for them."

The food court has about 125 tables. Of the 45 that were outdoors, only nine have been designated for smokers. Its assistant manager, Mr Anthony Ang, expects an even tougher challenge in enforcing the ban as the World Cup action heats up in the semi-finals and finals.

"It's definitely a problem as the number of smokers increase during football matches. We have more customers who want to smoke than there are designated seats available. We have to pay more attention to the enforcement during such times," he said.

Under the extension of the smoking ban which kicked in on Saturday, smoking is prohibited in indoor eateries. Hawker centres without outdoor areas can convert 10 per cent of their indoor seating capacity into smoking corners. For those with outdoor seating areas, up to 20 per cent of the outdoor area can be designated for smokers.

Businesses have to demarcate smoking corners clearly or state clearly if smoking is banned from the outlet, or be fined $200 for the first offence and $500 subsequently. Smokers could be fined $200 each time they flout the law, and up to $1,000 if they refuse to pay the fine and the matter will be brought to court.

Over the past two days, five teams of National Environment Agency (NEA) officers were out on their enforcement blitz.

When Today followed one team of four officers yesterday morning, the officers spent about two hours conducting spot checks on coffeeshops, fast food restaurants and food courts in the Punggol and Tampines areas.

Mr Ng was reminded by the officers to demarcate his outlet's smoking area clearly. Over at another eating outlet, a customer — who was a foreigner — was let off with a warning for lighting up just outside the designated smoking corner.

Generally, the ban appeared to be effective. The smoking corners were clearly demarcated with signs and painted lines on the ground, with "No Smoking" posters displayed prominently outside these areas. Though the NEA could not provide figures on the number of summons issued over the weekend, patrons appeared compliant, with smokers huddling in the designated areas.

The NEA, which has some 300 enforcement officers, has advised owners who have trouble handling uncooperative customers to call its hotline. But Mr Ng said: "By the time they come down, I would have lost my customers."

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See la.... make pple life so miserable dunno for wat...........................
Luckily I went REGENT Hotel for Germany Match and I could smoke myself away there...
Time to choose places where I could smoke to go le.....