For smokers in North Carolina restaurants and bars, the news of an indoor smoking ban in 2010 came as a disappointment.
However, many North Carolina restaurants and bars, including establishments on Hillsborough Street, have become more profitable since the ban, and the state has improved in terms of indoor air quality and general health.
According to a report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the four-year anniversary of the NC Smoke-free Restaurants and Bars Law, the ban has improved indoor air quality by 89 percent since 2010, benefitting the health of restaurant employees and customers.
The report also stated that within the first year of the smoking ban, the average number of weekly emergency room visits of those experiencing heart attacks in North Carolina decreased by 21 percent.
According to the report, the ban didn’t have an adverse economic impact on bars and restaurants in North Carolina. In fact, the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association stated that the smoking ban has helped restaurant sales.
For restaurants on Hillsborough Street, the smoking ban was not as detrimental to business as some bartenders predicted.
Mitch’s Tavern on Hillsborough Street eliminated smoking in 2006, four years before the ban officially took effect. According to restaurant owner Mitch Havouri, choosing to eliminate smoking inside his restaurant caused significantly less bar business but was part of an effort to establish a new customer base during the business’s transformation from a sports bar into a restaurant operation.
“We wanted to be appreciably different from other bar restaurants,” Havouri said. “[The smoking ban] wasn’t a negative thing for us because we were already on the other side.”
According to Sabrina Aldridge, manager at BrickHouse Sports Pub on Hillsborough Street, more customers supported the ban compared to those who didn’t.
Aldridge, who worked as a server at a Golden Corral restaurant during the time of the ban, said customers welcomed the law.
“When smoking was allowed inside, we got complaints all the time from families that it was really disturbing their meal, or that they could smell it even from the other side of the restaurant,” Aldridge said.
Aldridge said BrickHouse customers who now smoke on the bar’s outdoor patio have adjusted to the law despite initial complaints.
“A lot of our clientele is smokers,” Aldridge said. “I hear complaints of the ‘good ol’ days’ when they could smoke inside, but after people got used to the law, it didn’t affect customers as much.”
East Village Bar and Grill Manager Scott McIver said he personally supported the smoking ban in bars.
McIver said, in general, customers have been happier since the smoking ban.
“In my opinion, the experience is much more enjoyable without the smoke in my lungs and hair,” McIver said.
