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• Smoking legislation has not driven customers away from downtown bars 

Joking apart, Heikki has had to change his habits. He and many others from among the pub’s old regulars now pop in for a quick beer to say hello to friends and acquaintances, and then they head home or go to some other bar that has - unlike Angleterre - arranged itself a stay of execution for smokers. “What I happen to like are beer and a cigarette. I’m not looking for just a beer”, Heikki says.

Restaurant Manager Vessu Juvonen acknowledges that the new law has hit revenue a little, but certainly not as much as 10 per cent. “It is hard to say, as in some months we are showing a plus and in others sales are down. The drop has not been as radical as we initially feared”, he says.

The secret is that non-smoking citizens have also found the pleasures of sitting in the pub.

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