Bars that are ignoring the smoking ban

Update on Roosevelt, they've now definitely gone the smoking club route. €2 one-time membership fee.

Well the Pizzaria on Hohenzollernplatz is now non-smoking, which is great since he makes great pizzas.

The Green Room is a now a private smoking club. Fill out an application and pay 1€.

We thoroughly enjoyed our Shisha.

Constantly updated list of smoking clubs in Munich: raucherclub-muc.de/clubs

Out of the 6,000+ licensed establishments in Munich, it currently includes the following 24 venues:

• Albatros
• Alte Galerie
• Bar Centrale
• Belfort7
• Clemensburg
• Davidoff Lounge
• Ebony & Ivory
• Fischer Stüberl
• Flex
• Gordon´s Kuchlbauer
• Hide-out 2
• Joe Peña's
• Julep's
• KittyCatClub
• Die Koralle
• Lloyd's
• Gaststätte Ludwigsburg
• Peoples
• Roosevelt-Bar
• Smokers Home
• stimmt so
• Sunshine Pub
• Tito's Cocktailbar
• Y Julieta

Shit, I used to like the food in Juleps, but I guess I won't be going there any more.

For anyone looking for somewhere to smoke out in Waldtrudering, apparantly the Peppermint Lounge on Wasserburger landstr is becoming a smoking club.

Juleps had really incompetent service when we went there a few Fridays ago. So I don't mind it being on the list now.

I was in Karlsruhe last Friday, Karlsruhe is in Baden-Wuerttemberg and they have a different
anti-smoking law: large pubs can split their premises into a smoking and a non-smoking part.
My old favourite (Vogelbraeu) had split about 50:50. I was extremely delighted to see that
they had the old Bundesbahn effect: Packed in the non-smokers section, lots of tables to be
had in the smoking section: Nobody wanted to sit there !

Although for us this meant we had to wait a bit longer for a table, this showed quite nicely
that most people prefer a smoke-free environment, contrary to what the pub owners used
to claim !

If you are out for an old school GBV pint and a puff of the tobacco kind:

Am Glockenbach now seems to have a "Geschlossener Gesellschaft" thing going on.

The service was never great there, and they don't serve helles, so while it's a bit dissappointing (I really liked the fajitas there), it's not the end of the world.

essneun. Listing it so I remember not to go there - I did want to try it, too. Oh well.

Ah but interesting, the site I linked to above with the listings from October: http://rauchplan.de/category/bayern/munchen/ -- all the ones from October are gone. Alte Galerie is still listed there though.

I was talking to a barman on Sunday who said that a lot of these smoking clubs are going to be causing themselves a bunch of problems because they no longer fall under the blanket law of bar opening hours in Munich and will have to reapply to the KVR seperately to be able to open until certain hours.

Like I said in another thread, it will be interesting to see how the normal bar/smoking club ratio changes over the coming years.

Basically there will be no more smoking establishments, because these "Raucherclubs" are not really a solution. If they are a real "Raucherclub", they need to follow the German "Vereinsrecht" (don't know how to translate that tbh...), which means to get this working, the owner needs to change his status to a permanent member, plus he needs seven guys on the board who actully form the Raucherclub with him. Customers then can apply as temporary members. What SiM pointed out before is actually true, but there also is some changes on tax, status of ownership and general legal aspects. Therefore, sooner or later all the smoking clubs will be gone quite soon.

I heard Shamrock founded a Raucherclub in a sealed off room attached to the pub. That is down to the non-smoking law impossible and should be one of the first clubs we will watch to close soon.

I saw the sign in their glass case this morning. Damn, gotta wait for nice weather and drink outside. Too bad, this is right around the corner from work and a good place to wind down.

If they were not a solution they wouldn't be there, this being the land of lawfullness. KVR and other various types who don't pay taxes (beamter) would be down on them like rather sharpish.

Not all are a verein. True but the law doesn't say you have to be a verein. It says a geschlossene gesellschaft. Which these "clubs" are. I think you've been in Germany too long and are confusing Club with Verein automaticly, where as in this case as always its just the Germans hijacking our language.

What is glaringly obvious is that there is a demand for bars in which you can smoke in. Smokeazies if you like. Us non-smokers are not forced to go into them and if they do so should shut the fuck up about the smoke when in there.

I wonder if they'll make the Ofest reservation only with payment to a "Bierzelt Club" soon? Awesome idea. Keep the riff raff, whingy non-smokers, and tourists out.

I vote for gids for President of Munich. That's an excellent campaign slogan.

i wonder if these places have looked into whether their alcohol licences allow them to be a "geschlossene Gesellschaft"? They might find they have different restrictions to opening hours etc.

But will there be enough to keep these clubs alive? I suspect in the majority of cases: No, but time will tell. It seems an odd thing to gamble your livelihood on, but it seems some people really care about it.

True OG but not jnowing 100% the technicalities of the law there - which undoubtedly probably go into the finest of detail - it's difficult to say. But if you own a bar and see either going bust or losing the odd hour here and there, it really is no competition.

I was talking to Mrs MM the other day and wondering about this, and who would go to these smokers clubs (OK, smokers obviously, before anyone thinks of any wise ass comments). I guess you'll get couples where both smoke who'll go, but I'd guess most groups of friends will be a mix of smokers and non smokers, and based on the average for the country (I belive it's about a third of German adults smoke, right?) statistically in a group of friends there are likely to be more non smokers that smokers. Now, as a non-smoker, a lot of places were horribly smokey even before the ban, so I'd imagine that these places will be really bad (before anyone says, I'm not complaining or anything, I wouldn't go in these places, so it won't bother me at all), so how many non smokers would actually be prepared to go somewhere you could be the only person who isn't smoking! Will non-smokers go to keep their smoking friends happy, or will the smokers go to regular bars and pop out for a smoke every so often so they can go out with their non-smoking friends? As you say, it will be interesting to see how it pans out, especially when it gets warmer and people can sit outside bars or in beer gardens together, and those who smoke can.

I will definitely be avoiding any place that classes itself as a "smoking club" or simply ignores the ban (except beer gardens since it is fair enough to allow smoking outdoors)

Have you tried Escobar? Right across the street from Julep's and they do obey the smoking ban from what I gathered (been there twice since Jan 1). They have good Mexican food too. (At least in my opinion.)

Yeah, been there a few times - quite often after we'd been to Juleps for food, we'd pop over to Escobar for a few drinks as they have helles and better service. Ate there once, but to be honest, I wasn't overly impressed with the fajitas. Can't remember exactly what it was i didn't like, possible it was one of these places that decide to put bizzare stuff like mushrooms or carrots in the fajitas. For me they should have ckicken, beef, etc, and plus onions, peppers and seasoning, and then the side stuff like salsa, etc, and that's it.

With a capacity for 1,850 guests, Nachtgalerie will this weekend become Munich's largest operational gas chamber smoking club.

They are not going against the law they are working within it.

A victory for democracy, perhaps?

Good on the naga! Wouldn't be the same without out it...I just wish I was 5 years younger so I could go there and not feel ashamed

Café Forum after 22:00. No fees.

Master's Home are ignoring the smoking ban.

They've not become a smoking club, they're just plain ignoring the ban.

Ashtrays out. Lots of people smoking. No door control, no membership fees or sign in, no warning or explanation given.

Bars - Excess, Baader Cafe (after 10 during the week)

Clubs - Erste Liga. Die Registrateur are also in the process of a poll asking what people prefer, so it may soon be smoking again..