STAY WELL
No more second-hand smoke at Ashburton cafés The move to Smokefree had attracted “one or two gripes” but the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. “The biggest response has been from parents and grandparents noticing that there is no smoke when they are here with their children or grandchildren and they really appreciate the fresh clean area.” “Allowing smoking in our outdoor dining area in the past only catered for a tiny percentage of our customers, while potentially spoiling the experience for the rest,” he says. Carly McDowell, Health Promoter at Community & Public Health, a division of the Canterbury District Health Board, says she and Mandy Casey of the Cancer Society approached all the cafés in Ashburton without a liquor licence to ask if they would like to go Smokefree, and all but one agreed. Ashburton’s Columbus Coffee has gone smokefree.
If you live in or visit Ashburton you can enjoy your latté with a friend or lunch with the kids or grandchildren without breathing in second-hand smoke now that nearly all cafés in Ashburton are Smokefree. Ashtrays on outdoor dining tables have all but disappeared, with eight cafés having decided to eliminate smoking from their outdoor areas. Creating smoke-free outdoor areas can also support those who have quit or are trying to quit. It also makes smoking less visible to children and young people. Sophie Morrow of Lushingtons Garden, Gift & Café says the café had experienced a few problems with its
8 | Spring 2016
outdoor smoking area in the past. “It’s quite enclosed and we’d had a couple of complaints. If one person smoked there, everyone could smell it. “We decided to make the call to go Smokefree and it was the right thing to do. It’s really going well,” she says. Nigel of Columbus Coffee in Ashburton, says the café has a beautiful outdoor area and he thought it would be nice not to have smoke billowing around.
In Australia and the US many outdoor public places have been smoke-free for many years. As part of a six month trial initiative called FreshAir, from 1 November, 20 cafés and restaurants in Christchurch will make their outdoor dining areas smoke-free through summer to 1 June 2017. The moves in Ashburton and Christchurch could well be the shape of things to come. We have just 10 years to achieve the government’s goal of a Smokefree New Zealand, set for 2025. Smokefree cafés are another significant step towards this goal, set a great example for others and give people the choice of dining outdoors, without secondhand smoke. ■