Spain's smoking ban has bar owners fuming

Spain's reputation as one of the last smokers' paradises in Western Europe is set to be stubbed out by June after the government revealed plans for fast-track legislation to ban lighting up in all public places.

While it is currently illegal in Spain to smoke in most places of work, Madrid's ministry of health says it wants outright prohibition – including inside all bars, restaurants and cafés. The move to tighten up on tobacco consumption has been warmly welcomed by trades unions as well as by anti-smoking groups.

In the Spanish parliament the law should gain strong support, too. Politicians may well find it difficult to argue against figures claiming that 50,000 Spaniards die each year because of smoking-related illnesses, as well as about 1,400 as a result of passive smoking.

Opposition is much greater in Spain's hotel, restaurant and bar trades. Tourism is one of Spain's main economic motors, and the world recession has already had an important knock-on effect: banning smoking, it is feared, would only increase the damage. "A prohibition like this will have its biggest effect on bars, especially the small ones, where we expect business to drop by 10 per cent," Jose Luis Guerra, an official with Spain's Caterers' Federation, told the newspaper El País.

At landlord level, reactions to the imminent ban have been more dramatic. "It's a complete disaster," said Manuel Diaz, who runs a bar near Granada in southern Spain. "My income dropped by 15 per cent in 2008 because of the recession, and 35 per cent in 2009, and this latest law is going to destroy us completely. I'm a non-smoker but I don't know a single restaurant owner in favour of it."

A straw poll by The Independent on Sunday of Spanish pub and bar landlords unearthed similar opinions. Nine out of 10 were ferociously opposed to the ban, with only one – a recent father – in favour, "but only in bars where under-18-year-olds are allowed to enter. I wouldn't want my kid enveloped in smoke".

The current stand-off between the government and pub landlords has been exacerbated by Spain's previous anti-smoking law, passed in 2006. A clause insisting that bars more than 100m2 in size build a special non-smoking area incurred major costs for some owners – and the government has not said it will provide compensation despite the imminent new changes.

Recent studies say smoking is on the increase in Spain, and culturally, the impact of a ban may well be much greater than in other European countries. Publicans questioned by the IoS estimate that roughly half their customers will light up at least once, and it is still fairly common for adults to smoke in front of children. Smoking still forms part of Spain's social fabric; at weddings, mini-packets of cigarettes or cigars bearing the happy couple's initials are regularly passed round the guests. "We all like smoke-free workplaces," Mr Guerra said. "Tobacco doesn't form part of our business. But the transition [to prohibition] should be more gradual, not brought in at full speed."

Spain's hotel industry is equally wary of the consequences of sudden, outright prohibition. "On a personal level, I would support this ban 100 per cent," said Estrella Palomera, owner of the Don Pio, a medium-sized hotel in Madrid. "But it's bad for my business, and it's just part of a long list of prohibitions that have been brought in by this government."

"I think people are annoyed because we used to be a pretty liberal country and suddenly there's been a radical clampdown in all sorts of areas, from drink-driving to wearing your helmet on a bike to smoking," said pub owner Santiago Pinar. "These bans are all for the common good, and personally I think more people could go to bars if they were smoke-free. But this latest move is going too far, too fast."