By Megan Harrison and Lee Moss
Pubs in the Centretown area have done their best to adapt to the changes introduced by Ottawa’s 2001 smoking bylaw, which Edgar Mitchell, owner of the recently closed Duke of Somerset said was partly responsible for its demise.
An informal survey of 20 bars and pubs in the area found many establishments are no longer experiencing declines, but instead are noticing a plateau in their business.
“It had an impact at one time, but not anymore,” says Steve Chandler, manager of the Mayflower II on Queen Street.
The Duke of Somerset served countless regulars for almost 70 years. The bar finally closed its doors Oct. 29, saying the introduction of the smoking bylaw had driven most of its smoking customers away, and it no longer had the revenue to keep the pub running.
“If your clientele are hardcore smokers, then yes, you’re going to feel a decline,” says Chandler. “People can buy a 12-pack, go to their homes, have a cigarette and drink a beer there.”
With the city-wide ban, smokers must either take their cigarettes outside or travel across the bridge to Quebec to smoke in bars. Many bar owners say they notice their customers come in for a drink, step out for a cigarette, and then leave. In the past, these customers would stay longer because they were allowed to smoke inside.
Some pubs have made changes to accommodate the decline. Woody’s on Elgin Street has changed its focus from mainly a bar atmosphere to a restaurant. Other pubs are relying on their outdoor patios to bring smokers back.
Owners from the Cue’N Cushion Billiards and Bar on Bank Street built a patio after the bylaw came into effect as a way of drumming up business.
According to the City of Ottawa website, smoking is allowed on patios as long a quarter of its parameter is open to the outside.
Matt Teahen, manager of the bar said their clientele dropped 70 per cent after the ban was implemented, but the patio has helped to bring back about 25 per cent of their lost patrons. The patio is not licensed, but customers can still step out for a smoke without straying too far from the bar.
However, one regular at the Cue’N Cushion told Centretown that the patio is “a barely acceptable replacement for the atmosphere of the pool hall.” He misses the traditional, smoky look of a full pool hall, and the patrons it used to attract. “Now all the old snooker players go over to the legion because they can smoke there.”
Royal Canadian Legions are exempt from the city’s smoking bylaw because they are considered private clubs.
The Mayflower on Elgin Street also has a heated patio attached to the bar. Jason Garner, the bar’s manager, says they will try to keep it open for as long as possible, but he usually has to close it by the end of November because of the cold weather.
“The patio helps for a big chunk of the year,” says Garner. “In the winter they gather around the propane heater or they just make a mad dash to smoke.”
Businesses without patios, like the Glue Pot Pub on Queen Street, feel the strain during the summer, when smokers will go outside. Annie Zhang, owner of Brixton’s on Sparks St. says her pub is more crowded during the summer months because of its outdoor section.
Zhang says although she would like to extend her patio to include a tent and a heater, she is not able due to the set boundaries of her establishment, as defined by the Sparks Street Mall.
The Mayflower II has no space to build a patio, but Chandler said that it’s only a matter of time before a new smoking bylaw will make that illegal. Makeshift tents with one open side which are put up around patios during the winter months are the only thing that shelter smokers from the elements.
“I say go for it,” Chandler says of those who are using patios to skirt the ban. “Take as much as you can get right now.”
Though some pubs are under pressure, not all see the ban as having a negative effect on their business. Sales at The Manx on Elgin Street increased after the smoking ban was enforced. The small basement bar spearheaded the campaign for Ottawa businesses to go non-smoking. Lisa Baird, the bar’s manager says although she is a smoker, she prefers a smoke-free bar.
“I remember the first day we went non-smoking,” she says. “I could smell the coffee brewing and I was like, wow.”
Baird also said that before the ban, The Manx had hardly any dinner rush, partly because the smoky atmosphere in the small pub was driving non-smokers away. Now a main focus is food, and there has been an increase in the number of dinner customers.
Joseph Eyamie, owner of the Fox and Feather and Swagman Jack’s on Elgin Street says that 80 per cent of his clientele is now non-smoking, and even those who tend to use the patio in the summertime don’t smoke.
He says a reason for the increase is good service and much of their former smoking clientele has come back or have been replaced by new people.
In general, bar owners and managers do not see the smoking bylaw as something that will force them to close like the Duke of Somerset. Most say it is something the public has gotten used to and they have now settled in to the new habit of stepping outside for a butt.