Samizdata covers the hoary subject of smoking bans. They, as I, deride them as an abolition of personal freedoms. Why not allow pubs and restaurants to make up their own rules ? some will ban it, some will separate the factions and some will encourage it, and thus consumers will have more choices. One pub I know has had a non smoking room with decent extraction for over 20 years. ” The Old Green Tree ” in Bath does this for the money it brings in, which illustrates the above point.
The current bans are being put in place on the basis of workplace safety which might even be acceptable if the science upon which concerns over passive smoking were more robust. The various studies, including the EPA one, are based on low risk factors, wide confidence intervals and generally would not pass muster if it were not for the politically desired end. Trawl through http://www.numberwatch.co.uk for repeated examples of this.
There is a solution, and it’s one that we’ve known for a century or more. Go into an old pub, one which still has the original configuration of rooms. You will note that one is called the Smoker. Read old novels, or watch movies based on the Victorian period. There were times and places where people smoked. And there were times and places where they did not. And these were determined by a consideration of the desires of others.

It’s nothing very amazing, nothing outrageous although something in short supply these days.

We used to call it ” being polite”.