SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Indiana’s fourth-largest city is becoming the latest one in the state to prohibit smoking inside bars.
The expanded South Bend smoking ban ordinance takes effect Tuesday after winning City Council approval in March. A state law adopted in 2012 prohibits smoking in most indoor workplaces, including all restaurants, but exempts bars, private clubs and casinos.
Some South Bend bar owners worry the ban will cost them customers. Murphy’s Backyard Bar & Grill owner Mike Jolly tells the South Bend Tribune that he expects he’ll lose business to nearby Mishawaka, where smoking in bars will remain legal.
Similar smoking bans are in place in several other Indiana cities, including Indianapolis and Fort Wayne.
Latorya Greene of Smoke Free St. Joe says South Bend’s ban will protect more workers from secondhand smoke.
