Well, blame the health mafia! What did people expect? If you stop people smoking inside, they have to come outside! It's logical to everyone except the health mafia.

I'm convinced that the same people who got smoking banned, will now concentrate on pubs.

And after pubs, what next? How about people over a certain height to weight ration being denied medical treatment? It's time to kick out the health mafia and leave people to live their lives!

No publican in their right mind would allow customers to make such a noise outside their bar that it would bring the "boys in blue" knocking.

Bar managers and staff have enough on their plate without even more hassle from neighbours complaining that couples are laughing too loud over their g&t or that the smoker who has been forced outside is breathing too loud!

People should think about where they are going to be living in a capital city centre before moving in next to or above a bar - makes sense that you are going to hear some noise. If you want peace & quiet live in the country or next to a church (won't be long before they are all converted to bars though) :-)

If you have a fairly busy bar which was primarily mainly a smoker's bar where do you think the smokers are supposed to go? Yes people drink in bars, yes they do actually have a good time but when the need for a quick puff calls there is no where to go but outside. If you live on a quiet street then any noise is going to be noticed so 10 or 15 people standing around puffing and chatting will generate a certain amount of noise.

Some noise cannot be helped but to warn that a license could be taken away if customers are not brought under control is plain stupid. Do you think it is intentional that the licensee is allowing customers to make a racket outside their bars - i think not!

We are already made to stop people drinking and sitting outside bars after 9pm (which goes down like a lead balloon in this hot weather) and now we have the specter of our livelihood being taken away because of law abiding customers going outside for a smoke and chat.

It beggars belief.

I’m surprised that Scotland went down this road with the ban on smoking in bars. I always thought that Scots had more between their eyes. What ever happened to the Scot’s “live & let live”; or Willie Wallace’s cry for “Freedom”? It is only the thin edge of the wedge, who’s next? Shades of George Orwell’s Big brother. They will soon be checking your grocery bags for crisps & Irn-bru before you leave the parking lot at Asda’s or maybe it will be that everyone with red hair will have to shave their heads because someone doesn’t like red heads. I agree that cigarette smoke can be annoying to some people with allergic sensitivities but with today’s technology that can easily rectified by using air cleaners in enclosed areas. As for health matters they would be better spending their money on removing the many petrol & diesel polluting busses & cars from the roads. You will pick up more junk in your lungs sitting at a traffic light in Edinburgh than spending the night in a pub with a beer & a fag.

I blame these same folk who are complaining now about the noise for allowing this smoking ban going through in the first place.
The majority of people in Scotland did not want a complete ban they were happy with a ban in places that sold food or for some non smoking and smoking establishments.
The minority who very rarely go out are the ones who wanted a complete ban and instead of standing up to the dictators who sit in the joke shop of a parliament the majority let them put the ban in as it is.
So don't start now complaining about noise it is your own fault.

I am an ex-smoker who never wanted the ban in the first place and regards it as a limiting of personal freedom. However, I live close to a bar where people do not pop out for 15 minutes but for an entire day as they are allowed to drink outside on the narrow pavement, sitting on residents' cars when they don't have a seat and leaving glasses on residents' window sills. I was never consulted by the council or the pub about seating outside the pub. I cannot have the windows of my house open during the summer because of the noise levels or park my car near my house for fear of damage. Nor do I feel I can complain for fear of reprisals. Is all that my fault?

as a non-smoke I was not sure if the decision to ban smoking in all public areas was the right one,however it is now illegal to do so. Many companies failed to look forward and are now suffering, unfortunately they will find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

I dont smoke but I didnt agree with the ban either, it is meant to be a free country so everyone is entitled to their own opinion and therefore we should also be free to smoke IF we want to. They decided on the ban and forced it through and any idiot could see what would happen in the future, if people are not allowed to smoke inside they will go outside, you cant expect them to stand outside silently and as far as I see it the neighbours should just have to lump it. after all it only takes a few minutes to have a cigarette then they go back in. Get a life

well what do they expect.

If they force people out on the street to smoke, then there is bound to be a bit of noise, its not a library

Its time for these people to get a grip on reality and deal with it, you can't have your cake and eat it, they wanted us to smoke outside, thats what we've been forced to do so thats an end of it.

Don't buy a house next to a pub if you don;t like noise

I firmly blame our MSP's, as mentioned before me they go with the minority and look what happens. Things are only going to get worse unless we get these puppets with hidden agendas out of the parliament and start using common sense to dictate how we live. im a smoker and was for a partial ban (food places, separate areas), but as usual the figures are cooked and the law is passed, no doubt lining the pockets of our elected.

I really fear whats coming next.

What these people are actually compalining about is out of doors drunkenness I wouldve thought.

People don't exactly make a lot of noise when they smoke do they ? They are probably bragging about how many packets of crisps they can eat and setting each other bets , and comparing Tattoo's.

However , complaining about the Pear Tree seems a bit weird , it's had a beer garden since before I was born.

The bottom line is that the sooner drinking is made illegal in pubs - the better.

lol Marie. That's funny but not altogether unimaginable these days!

On the issue of the noise, I agree with most others that the residents have to lump it - they bought the abode in the first place and it was a legislative decision to ban smoking. The smokers have nowhere else to go - if any situation becomes a public order issue then so be it.

On the issue of the ban I'm an ex-smoker (of 10 years) and I'm overjoyed that the ban came in. It will do a lot to promote healthier lifestyles and it was clear that although ANY pub could have been non-smoking it was NEVER going to happen without legislation. I now enjoy coming home from the pub with my clothes not stinking of stale smoke and my eyes and throat in good fettle.

Nicotine is an addictive and pernicious drug, worse than most illegal drugs in my opinion and its use also affects others passively - the argument for the ban was quite compelling. However I do sympathise that legislation generally is now approaching a point where it is becoming intrusive and is affecting peoples' lifestyle choices, almost a form of fascism or eugenics. We should be watchful that it doesn't go too far, a balance must be struck.

too late, it has gone too far already. The near unanimous comment on this thread has been: 'What did they expect!' MSPs may be able to read vastly unenlightening reports about the dangers of passive smoking but if it comes to adding two and two together they get nothing like four. They are prepared to persecute bar staff for allowing smoking, they persecute them for noise that is created outside the pub, and if they start removing licences they will find that the problem moves to different pubs. THEY created this problem.

Yes: what has happened about the Pear Tree: it's always had masses of drinkers outside, so what's new?

As one of your respondents already alluded to, the majority of these pubs and clubs were in existence long before the current complainers occupied their premises.
Unfortunately, your report only takes into account the logging of complaints and therefore provides you only with numbers and not actual breaches. A door has been opened which allows occupiers of properties in close proximity to pubs and clubs to complain and carry out personal vendetta’s with the assistance of Environmental Health and other agencies which may have little to do with noise pollution.
As a member of the bowling club mentioned in your report I would advise that we have been subject to numerous inspections by Environmental Health instigated by a single individual, who resides close by, which borders on harassment and for personal reasons alone which, in actual fact, little or nothing to do with actual noise levels. Your report therefore disappoints from a factual standpoint.
Noise Regulations, disturbance and persistent nuisance breaches are quite clear and, whilst your report may be accurate from a reported incident point of view, actual breaches such as recorded noise levels, are non-existent.
As a smoker who is now faced with having to suck in road traffic exhaust fumes, carcinogens and noise will I have, in future years, a justifiable claim against the government for exposing me to these health hazards?

Do smokers now have the right to ask non-smokers to vacate beer gardens and return inside the pubs if insufficient seats are available or doesn't it cut both ways?

Popeye, I am a professional Building Surveyor with a degree of specialisation in the subject of Accoustics and Environmental Noise. I'm also a nearby resident who is aware of your situation. Let me know if you are contacted by Environmental Health and i'll be happy to pop along and assist in disproving any allegations of noise related nuisance on your behalf.
This particular legislation has opened a can that all parties concerned will struggle to put the worms back in.
What's happened to individual freedom of choice?

Well Big tobacco could not have better adverts as What they have now. A ban was not called for it was NOT wanted by the majority, ventilation should have been the way forward. Anyone with any brain cells could have seen what was coming next.
I do not even live near a pub, but the noise level from one family and the swearing is worse than I ever hear going past a pub. They are out to get the smoker, but they love the revenue they bring in.
They do not want smokers in the pub, where do they want them to have a drink with their tolerant non-smoking friends.
Next people on the hit list is becoming obvious as well.
They will be weighing people soon before they go shopping or for a meal out.
This is all getting nasty and there are some very nasty sites popping up on the internet already-one called filthysmokers- very nice
What about the winter, the elderly, the disabled they did not even get a voice, it is a disgrace-come to that how come there are so many elderly smokers who lived through the war and the biggest passive smoking eras?
Unless you look to see what is already happening in the USA you will not have a clue as to how far this will go.
It is social engineering nothing more nothing less.