Right! Two of the pubs down the avenue have seriously reduced the amount of tables and chairs. This is probably (what do I know?) because they want the maximum weekend night packed in crowd of boozers tanking up before they go clubbing. They can keep it.
You'll know far better than we do, but I think the entire demographic is changing. Down Princes Avenue (30 yards away!) the population of the wine-bars changes over the day and over the week. In the week, lunch is a quiet and calm event - lots of young mums with prams, some geriatrics like me, quiet modern jazz playing, crosswords being done and so on. Weekend nights - total mayhem: hundreds of people parachuting in from the estates to the north of the city; tube-tops and mini-skirts; huge crush at the bar; impossible to hear the quiet jazz. I love the way Pave and the avenue change like the weather.
Last night went into Ray's Place (Nepalese - 45 yards away) and ordered some take-away. 30 minutes to kill, so I thought I'd have a drink. Impossible to get into the first three wine bars for the sheer number of people. Made the huge 75 yards walk to Pave. Totally crowded, but being a regular has its merits, and I got a glass of wine passed over the bar in seconds. The nine feet tall black girl next to me was impressed. Not quite impressed enough, but there you go.
I think we're watching an evolutionary process. People want some semblance of class, not spit and sawdust, even if they overwhelm it from time to time. Many pubs have just not learned to adapt.
One of the bad side-effects of the general smoking ban in Europe is, for me, the fact that Paris no longer smells like Paris. It used to smell of warm bread, beer and Gaulloise. Those aromas hung around the Metro and the vents in the street. Rich, exciting, full of atmosphere. Now if Paris smells of anything it's cat poo. Thus does the urge for us to live in an aseptic, sterilised, neutralised environment rob of us so much diversity.
Topic: Smoking while dining Alfresco ? (Read 80667 times)