Multimedia: Impact of smoking ban in Baltimore
July 3, 2008
In his Business Friday cover story today, Andy Rosen reports on the impact of the smoking ban on a bar in Keymar, Md. - just minutes from the Pennsylvania line. The Crossroads Inn got a hardship waiver that exempts it from the smoking ban beginning June 18, after the owner said the ban almost put him out of business.
From the story:
He said he lost somewhere between 45 percent and 60 percent of his sales because regular customers began driving to Pennsylvania, where it’s legal to smoke inside. Instead of staying open until last call, Brandendburg said he would shutter his bar at around 10 o’clock most nights.
He said he took out a $40,000 loan and sold two antique trucks to keep the Crossroads Inn afloat. “I thought for sure I wouldn’t make it,” Brandenburg said.
Multimedia Reporter Richard Simon went to The Havana Club in Baltimore, the only other establishment to get an exemption from the smoking ban. Watch his video below to see what a longtime customer says about the ban’s effect there (pre- and post-exemption) and hear from several other restaurateurs.
Multimedia: Before start of smoking ban, a “Last Hurrah”
February 2, 2008
With the state’s smoking ban in effect as of this weekend, many Baltimore-area bars and restaurants held a final hurrah on Thursday night.
Photographer Rich Dennison was at Morton’s the Steakhouse to cover a 55-person event where cigar aficionados bid farewell to a public pastime. Listen to the audio slideshow below and view Rich’s exquisite photographs from the last night of indoor smoking in a Baltimore restaurant.
See the slideshow in a larger format here.
Odors unleashed
August 7, 2007
When Maryland’s ban on smoking in bars and restaurants takes effect next year, patrons and bar-owners could be in for an unpleasant (smelling) surprise. British media outlets are reporting that a recent smoking ban there had the unintended consequence of unleashing foul odors that were heretofore masked by the strong smell of tobacco smoke.
The Sunday Times of London reported this week that many pub managers have resorted to using air fresheners to cover up bodily and bar-related scents that previously went unnoticed.
Oliver Devine, a marketing manager at Mitchells & Butlers pubs tells the Times that it hasn’t been all bad, but something had to be done. His pubs now smell of artificial grass clippings and ocean breezes.
“Appetizing food smells have increased but others are less attractive, such as stale food and beer, damp, sweat and body odor, drains and — how do you put this nicely? ” Devine said, “flatulence.”
Could this be enough to drive Maryland’s customers into the waiting arms of nearby states that still allow smoking? What would you rather inhale? Cigarette smoke or … um, something else?
-ANDY ROSEN, Daily Record Business Writer
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