Yesterday the local blogosphere came alive about how starting January 1st The Avenues would turn into a non-smoking mall. I for one was very skeptical when hearing this since the airport for example is supposed to be smoke free yet people there smoke casually without any consequences. At restaurants smokers also usually have the best tables while non-smokers get shoved all the way in the back. Since I was in contact with someone at The Avenues, I decided to find out more about this smoking ban and how they were going to enforce it.
First of all The Avenues is going to be smoke free except for the following areas:
– Designated areas in cafés and restaurants
– Seating areas and space outside The Avenues (open air)
– 9 air freshener machines (pictured above) will be installed at all the basement entrances and those stations will be designated as smoking areas
Regarding enforcing this ban, if The Avenues security personal find anyone smoking they will approach them and ask them to stop. Since they’re a mall they can’t fine smokers themselves but they will be cooperating closely with the police who are present at the mall on a daily basis.
I am a non-smoker and I hate walking in a mall behind someone smoking so personally I really hope this campaign succeeds and The Avenues can truly enforce this smoking ban and set an example.
50 replies on “No Smoking at The Avenues starting 2011”
I hope it works
Finally some justice ! I hate smokers too!!!
I dont smoke, i dont eat salt, i dont eat sugar, i dont drink cofee !
LIFE IS PERFECT. 🙂
cross your fingers – there are lots of places that claim that they are smoke free to attract customers; but since they have taken the initiative to buy air fresheners I think it is a legit attempt.
I’m not so sure just how well this will be enforced though. There always seems to be ways around everything here in Kuwait. I’m also a non smoker and i get really annoyed when I see people smoking in queues (especially at the movies in Avenues) forcing everyone else to have to breathe in their 2nd hand smoke. Not at all ideal!
Finally!!! I think it is crazy and extremely old-fashioned how Kuwait allows this smoking everywhere. The whole world is forcing people to quit this unhealthy, horrible habit, so finally Kuwait is following. If people are that desperate for a smoke, go outside!
Let’s hope it works!!!
I am a smoker and i hate walking behind people at the avenues,that are puffing smoke. I only smoke at cafes, so its a good deal for me! However i doubt that this will be enforced effectively without police presence at the mall and enforceable by law.
I hope they can manage it well
ya this should be interesting lol..be ready to upload videos of fights breaking out with avenues security 😛
Of COURSE it won’t work. Even those ”revolutionary guards” at the Avenues aren’t going to go up to some bedu and tell him to put out his ciggie…he’ll stick it up their whatever…and light up another..look at hospitals and supermarkets. It just isn’t going to happen this century, unless the police get involved.
I remember when they announced the ban in Marina Mall… i was ecstatic…
then people began smoking nonchalantly inside the mall… and security would walk right by them and ignore them… nothing changed, nothing happened… i would still be sitting in Lenotre trying to dig into my salad while the guy next to me is blowing his fumes into my breathing space, suffocating me and ruining my meal.
I lost all faith when i was in the airport… a smoke free area with a designtaed smoking places for smoker… i was complaining while trying to eat some Mcdonalds fries about the guy on the table next to mine who was smoking like a chimeny and blowing his smoke in my face, i don’t know why he has to smoke sitting at a dining table y3ni… why can’t he do it elsewhere… i was complaning and thinking that maybe i should be calling the police for him… when i saw two police men strolling buy… each with a cigarrete in hand and smoking inside the airport!!!!
That’s when i realized that q8y’s think their right to smoke is equivelant to their right to live and breather… and you trying to ban them from smoking is simply fruitless… i do wish all the best to the Avenues but i don’t see a smoking ban being effective any time soon… not when all restaurants designate their best seats for the smokers and punish non smokers by putting them in the back dingy tables as to not “bother” their smoking customers… until that mentality changes… nothing will be effective…
Dear Danderma,
Do what I do. B*itch and complain up a storm until they do something. Sooner or later its going to take more energy shutting you up than it will stopping the smokers. Problem solved, plus you get free refills just because they’re scared of you.
It worked for me.
I look forward to the day I can enter an elevator or restroom without someone following me in with a cigarette, nothing worse than smoke in those confined spaces. And looking forward to being able to sit down somewhere, for a coffee or meal, and not worry about who is going to sit nearby and light up…I don’t know if that’ll change.
weedi aboos ily 7a6 hal qarar 3ala rasa!!
shagoona shag bil tadkheeen… o itha kalamt wa7id minhom ib6eeeb yiz3al….!!
aqwa wa7id ily yay idsh im ma93ad ib zigarta… o lama itgoola 6af.ha yiz3al … eee il hawa hawa ibook … mali 7ag astan.shiq hawa nitheeef…
lakin fee min il modakhineen ib9ara7 3ala ras… eshoofik itithayag e6afeeha bidoon ay kalam… 7ita ib ibtsama
enshallah il kuwait kilha NO SMOKING!
theyre not going to stop smoking. If theres no fine they wont care..when they light their cig, theyll be like ‘og, im not going to pay for it theyll just warn me so who cares’ if they put it out then im pretty sure theyll light their next cig within 5mins. If theres a fine then thats another story. And besdies i dont think its a governmental law so ppl wont care at all..just saying
So smoking will be allowed at “designated areas in cafe’s and restaurants”. As this is where most of the smoking takes place anyway – I guess there’s not going to be a much of a change…
It won’t work. Danderma is so right too.
Would you imagine the security personnel approaching a smoker to ask them to stop smoking? Can’t imagine the smoker saying: oh sorry I will. But I can imagine the smoker saying: get out of my face 🙂
Non-smokers have no rights in Kuwait. For now, we are forced to put up with other people’s filthy habits. But times are changing and it’s only a matter of time until the tables are turned. The smoker’s world is getting smaller and smaller. The Middle East is one of the few smokers’ paradises left. It’s up to people like us to keep the pressure on and let business owners and public officials know how we feel. Smokers are still king at the moment, but their days are numbered.
Hopefully it will be as clean and higenic as discovery mall!
Smoking is part of Kuwait’s charm, up there with harassing chicks, increasing traffic by aimlessly gezzing and staring at people in public like perverts, why would u ban it LOL but honestly this is the least of Kuwait’s worries right now.
This is like the anti-mixing laws in schools and shit, very low priority and it takes up time that could be used to solve a more serious issue. They have a lot more important things to fix in this country, let’s focus on them first. You gotta learn to walk before you run.
What? That’s it? I thought the whole mall will be smoke free!! I guess that would never be possible!
Even as you said in the AIRPORT!
PFunk… this is the mall’s decision not a government decree
Will this mean less riff-raff at the Avenues? Stay tuned!
it wont work , even though am a smoker , but i don’t walk the mall like a smoking train !
Finally…
I somehow don’t see that happening, but here’s to hoping that I’m wrong!
Same here! Inshallah
Shoplifters and purse snatchers will love being able to easily distract security personnel.
not gonna happen and wont happen,, i know im not going to… anyone have a problem with that then thats your fault!! just dont walk behind smokers its not hard you know,, u just take 2 steps and boom no more smoke in your face.. + u have smoking and non smoking section so u get the choice either u wanna smell the smoke or not.. and mark stop whining about how non smokers sit in the back .. dnt know wat restaurants uv been 2. ok maybe smoking in elevators etc is annoying and me personally dnt do that but in a cafe, restaurant why not .. its u non smokers being selfish now tryng to ban smoking everywhere god damn it.
Yeah, you smokers have it so tough, constantly stinking the place up with your cigarettes and inconveniencing those of us who have no choice but to breathe in the carcinogens from your cancer sticks. It must be really difficult being such a self-absorbed, inconsiderate jerk.
Tell me, on what planet does smoke cling to only the smoker instead of diffusing and getting in everyone’s face?
But to use your oh-so-clever argument here, if you have a problem with smoking being banned, then that’s your fault!!! See how ridiculous that sounds and why nobody should take you seriously?
@”Not Dead Yet” with your that attitude .. your “Not” and “Yet” will disappear soon.
and Ahmad its not a ban on smoking.. its just like you cannot walk to all the places with that shit in your mouth.
Sorry for being rude but i really hate cigarettes and the aftermath.
And its not complete ban, there will be areas where you can, so you should.
But I dont think so this will be followed, as 1st of all police and security should follow these trand than only they can approach other people.
Nwzz I hope people show some etiquette and follow these trands
Not gonna happen in a million years. Was picking someone up at the airport last night, and I was causally smoking under a no smoking sign. A cop walked up next to me and lit one too.
There should be no smoking period. Not even in ‘designated’ restaurant areas.
The whole mall should be ‘smoke free’.
Wake up, Kuwait. This isnt 1978.
hilaliya just cuz were almost in 2011 does not mean the malls/ restaurants should be smoke free. just cuz u dnt smoke does not mean its easy for others just to quit smoking all of a sudden.. think before u type
Ahmad, we are not asking you to quit smoking all of a sudden, we are asking you to be human enough to realize that your second hand smoke is killing someone else, non-smokers choose not to smoke to be healthy, it’s not right for them to be forced to take in someone else’s smoke. The opposite is not relevant, as not smoking does not affect the health of a smoker in a negative way.
Somehow I doubt you would ask for us to be understanding of other addictions. Nobody cares what you put in your body, but we don’t want you deciding what goes in ours.
@Ahmed….you are so rude and ignorant! OMG! Have you read any of the thousands of publications on second-hand smoke? It’s not just as easy as “taking a step” over to avoid the cancer-causing fumes from inconsiderate smokers, such as yourself. Smoke when you’re on your own, or outside, but nobody should — for one second — have to breath in your smoke. Smoke carries in the air; dont be so ridiculous to suggest that people in “non-smoking” sections of restaurants and cafes arent still effected.
Progressive countries around the world have had such smoking bans in effect for a LONG TIME!
@PFunk…I see your point though 🙂 🙂
Thats fantastic news! now if only our offices could be smoke free too…i wish there was someone we could officially complain to so that it becomes illegal to smoke at official work places.. like banks!!!
You know smoking is a choice…. A personal freedom but when you breathe smoke in my face and pollute my air then that’s an intrusion on my personal space and an assault on my right to breathe clean air. Hell I have seen fathers smoke over little kids while pushing their kids in prams or waiting outside watching over them while his respective other shops inside. Kids….little innocent children breathing all that shit and tar into their tiny pink lungs….I know cry me a river right????
So bottom line is If the law can’t enforce it and like I too have seen in the airports the law enforcers themselves break the law and smoke openly then what do you expect a rent a cop mall guard to enforce?? It’s only when you expose them and embarrass them in public will they stop. What they should do is candidly film the law breakers and put it out on national TV or better yet upload it on You Tube for the world to see. I am sure it won’t be fun to be seen in uniform and on duty breaking the law. And for the rest of the public the same thing they should be filmed being yanked by the cops for smoking in a no smoking zone and that film should be aired on national TV. It should be our sacred right to film them and send them in.
Oh Yeah … and for every video we send in we get a KD imagine that 😉
Spartan ….. if you are reading this ..Now this would make me easy money 🙂
🙂
@ ahmad
No one is asking you to quit smoking.. Not at all… Please by all means please continue to smoke..It’s your life to do with as you please…..but when you are in a public area do the rest of us non-smokers a favor; light up and smoke away from the rest of us .. be a good decent chap find designated smoking area where you will find lots of people like you who choose to smoke.. say hi, halla or sallam…. make friends….. and puff away… when you are done come out breathe in some clean fresh O2 and continue on your merry way
if you read my other comments you would clearly understand i never smoke in elevators, walking through malls ect…. just in restaurants (smoking section) and cafe’s which is usually outside in open air…by the way i love your sarcasm
“just cuz u dnt smoke does not mean its easy for others just to quit smoking all of a sudden.. think before u type”
You can’t quit? Tough shit, stay home and smoke and pollute your own environment, not others private space.
We don’t care for people like you blowing smoke in children’s faces.
*yawn* I’ll believe it when I see it. Marina Mall is also supposed to be smoke free, it doesn’t stop people from lighting up right in front of your face.
The airport is a joke. They might as well remove the non-smoking signs.
Nothing is gonna change here People in Kuwait need forced
rules to have a good behave.
A friend of mine once said that having smoking and non-smoking areas in the same room is like having urinating and non-urinating sections in the same swimming pool!
Certain areas of the avenues are going to be saturatedted with smoke and it will travel!!!
“A friend of mine once said that having smoking and non-smoking areas in the same room is like having urinating and non-urinating sections in the same swimming pool!”
Exactly Aziz.
I was there on 1-01-11 to test their smoking ban. They should have saved the money that they spent on printing giant banner. The “rule” had absolutely ZERO impact.
Here’s why:
Saw a Kuwaiti gentleman light up right in front of a “no smoking” sign. The guard – some Asian nationality, probably Nepalese – asked him politely not to. The smoker looked at him, said “so what?” and continued.
That, I believe – says it all.
Yes Burhan… thats what totally expected..
I am pretty sure.. when Avenues Mngmnt would have asked their so called securtyzz to ask smoker not to smoke .. they would have replyed.. Ohh.. but how could we risist in 1st place.. no way we wont do this.. plz ask any1 else.. and thats how the Nepalizz are in picture.
Nwzz I Guess atleast this will have a 10% impact atleast.
Like many of you have said, it comes down to ettiquette, manners, responsibility. Im sorry to say but a lot of which seems to be lost.
I just spent a week in Dubai for Christmas/New Years (ive been many times before) and what a different place it is. People respect the laws. And yes obviously there is more police enforcement that helps.
But the point here is if it says “no smoking” dont effin smoke. Its not a matter of stepping away from someone smoking, its about respecting the laws and others around you.
They need to start handing out fines on the spot and ask for payment on the spot. Laws need to be tougher and need to be enforced. They need to start taking responsibility.
Im appaled by the number of adults smoking near or around little kids and babies. Its like poision for their developing organs.
I doubt this will work. Kuwait Airport has the same policy but failed!
They banned smoking in Dammam’s airport next day 220 people got tickets!
@Zaydoun:
“PFunk… this is the mall’s decision not a government decree”
No, Zaydoun… the Amiri Decree was made in 1995!
https://www.whatsonkuwait.com/en/events/view/1013.html