Jump to full article: Financial Times (uk), 2008-05-12
Author: Adam Thomson in Mexico City
Intro: Victor Ramírez has a plastic blue apron tied tight around his wiry frame as he waits in the sun for lunchtime customers, just as he has done for decades.
But even though the afternoon is advancing, the 20-odd tables inside the “Cantina The Return” are laid and the television sets bolted to its peach-coloured walls are blaring a normally irresistible cocktail of soaps and sport, only a couple of people have turned up.
“Things are bad,” admits the 59-year-old. “Very bad.”
The downturn began last month, when Mexico City became the latest capital
to join the global trend of imposing smoking bans in public places. The
air in the city’s traditional watering holes may be cleaner, but there is
growing concern that the new rules may prove fatal for one of the city’s
traditional symbols of popular culture.
“Cantinas are taking the brunt of this,” says Daniel Loeza, vice-president
of Canirac, which represents almost 250,000 restaurants and bars across the
country. “It is very hard to divorce cigarettes from drink and I don’t see
a bright future for the city’s traditional cantinas.”
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, a lot of other food and drink outlets are also
suffering from the ban.
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