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Minnesota Smoking Bars |
 Minnesota Smoking Bars
US Drinkers Upstage Smoking Ban
Bars in Minnesota have found a dramatic way to get around the US state's recently introduced smoking ban.
The law grants an exception from the ban to performers in theatrical productions. So the bars have become theatres, and their customers, actors.
Now some bars print bills listing the "cast" of bartenders, and ashtrays become "props". Drinkers don costumes and attempt strange accents.
But a health official said it was time for the curtain to fall on the ploy. |
 'Before the Ban'
At the Rock, a heavy-metal bar in Maplewood, owner Brian Bauman explained why his clientele were doing little more than sitting around, smoking and drinking to a soundtrack of deafening music.
"They're playing themselves before 1 October - you know, before there was a smoking ban," he said, according to the Associated Press.
"We call the production, Before the Ban!"
Other bars have taken to the scheme with greater gusto, with customers dressing up in costume, the entrance labelled "stage door" and promising productions such as the Tobacco Monologues.
Up to 100 bars across the state are relying on the legal loophole to allow smokers to continue lighting up. |
Health Warning
But the state's health department says they are indeed breaking the law, and has threatened to hit them with fines of up to $10,000 (£5,000).
"The law was enacted to protect Minnesotans from the serious health effects of second-hand smoke," said Sanne Magnan, the Minnesota health commissioner.
She said the "theatrics" would have to end.
But bar owners fear their takings will fall once the ban is reimposed, while others will miss the antics.
"It's turned into the most fun thing I can imagine," said Lisa Anderson, owner of a bar in Hall City. |
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Source article from bbc.co.uk/news |
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