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Smoke-Free Thursday
Is this sign starting to look familiar? If not, get out and take a walk around town! This winter marked a first for West Chester “Smoke-Free Thursdays. Following suit with some of the nation’s big cities, including Philadelphia, West Chester has decided to offer a smoke-free environment to its townspeople. A handful of restaurants in the borough have committed to participating in West Chester’s newest program, which urges citizens to leave their cigarettes at home while dining or entertaining themselves in town (see list below).
Who’s behind this, you ask? The West Chester Borough Council (specifically Holly Brown and Scott Smith) got the ball rolling in November, and are asking the West Chester Business Improvement District (BID) and the West Chester Chamber of Commerce to assist them. BID is responsible for bringing and increasing business into the borough, and one way to appeal to clientele is to offer nonsmokers a place to enjoy a meal with only the freshest of air.
As with any major decision, borough residents have mixed feelings. Smoke-Free Thursdays end around 10 pm in most establishments, which leaves both smokers and nonsmokers alike perplexed. Lacy Karosic, 22, showed up at Kildare’s Irish Pub on the first Smoke-Free Thursday, disappointed to find out she had arrived too late and that “the bar had already filled up with smoke.” Jonathan Conaway, 22, refuses to go out to participating restaurants on Thursdays until after 10 pm, saying that he wouldn’t patronize a smoke-free-sometimes bar or restaurant. The possibility of West Chester becoming completely smoke-free both scares and excites residents. . .go out for dinner next Thursday and come to your own conclusions!
Smoke-Free (asterisk denotes Smoke-Free Thursday only) Establishments
Gilmore’s Restaurant
Iron Hill Brewery
Kooma Japanese Restaurant
Murray’s Deli
Penn’s Table
Spence Cafe *
Three Little Pigs
Teca *
Alberto’s *
Vincent’s Restaurant and Bar *
West End Eating Company
Aloha Cafe
Cream and Sugar Cafe
Sprazzo
De Starr’s Restaurant and Bar *
Doc McGrogan’s Oyster House
Kildare’s Irish Pub *
Salad Stop
Mediterranean
Want more information?
www.westchesterbid.com
www.chesco.org
About the Author
Sarah's dream job is to own a small cafe and bookstore and if that doesn’t work out she wants to be homeless in Europe. In the mean time she's exploring and reporting on the wide and wonderful world of WC Restaurants.
More About Sarah Reese...11 Comments So Far
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All businesses serving food in Florida are smoke free. It’s awesome!
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As a person who works in the restaurant business and is prodominatey a non smoker, I would love to see West Chester go 100% smoke free! I think that going smoke free on Thursdays is a good first step! If the town can survive one night a week without lighting up, looks like it is on the right track. Stay tuned!
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See, I’m conflicted. When writing the article, I tried to be unbiased - but I smoke! And sometimes it’s really, really nice to go into Kooma or Doc’s and not come out with burning eyes. However, I think it’s because I went into those places before this decree went into effect - I HATE going to Iron Hill and not smoking, it feels wrong
I’ll deal with it either way. By the way, driving home from dinner tonight with everyone (Thanks, Mary!) I noticed that Crawdaddy’s Bayou Bar and Grille on Route 3 has gone non-smoking. Discuss.
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I think it’s swell to not smell… like cigarettes.
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i like the smell of cigarettes! they remind me of my grandpa!
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Gettysburg, PA has had a smoke-free bar since May of 2005. It’s called the Reliance Mine Saloon and is otherwise known as the worst bar in town (or the BAT CAVE by my posse.) It’s underground, for god’s sakes! I suppose the black lung was enough for those miners.
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We ran in the Reliance Mine Saloon entrance one time after a junior high dance and it looked exactly like a mine entrance. I couldn’t imagine getting drunk there - it must be so confusing.
Too bad the other Gettysburg establishments aren’t going smoke-free. I personally think it is unappetizing to try to enjoy a delicious meal with smoke wafting past your nose. Yuck.
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I prefer non-smoking bars because it helps me go the entire weekend without showering or changing my clothes.
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To all my bartending friends: Spending 30 minutes in a smoke-filled room is equal to smoking one cigarette.
Non-smokers ingest poisonous, cancer-causing toxins even with filtration systems nearby.
Smoking is an addiction.
Check out cleanair.org - the Clean Air Council website for all the facts.
Like a noxious blue haze, smoking in public places should just blow away…
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Part of the pleasure of eating good food is being able to smell the wonderful aromas of herbs spices and the food iself - not cigarette smoke.
and sometimes when you walk into the front door of some establishments, that double as night spots you get the nasty stale smell of old cigarettes even at lunch time. Yucch - how unappetizing. Not to mention all the health concerns.
And I know I’d go out more often to restaurants that have music if I didn’t have to worry about my hair clothes smelling like an ashtray and gettin a migraine headache or sore throat to boot.
The smell of smoke reminds me of my grandfather too. Unfortunately, he died of lung cancer.
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I lost my dad to emphysema a couple years ago and it wasn’t pretty.
It goes through my head constantly while I’m sitting in a cloud of smoke at a bar or restaurant and it makes it pretty hard to enjoy myself.
And waking up the next morning with smelly hair, red eyes, and a sore throat is no picnic either.