Despite Mayor Michael Bloomberg‘s 5-year-old ban on smoking in bars, patrons are still lighting up after hours. If you’ve ever been to the Beatrice Inn or Rose Bar at Gramercy Park Hotel last at night, this isn’t exactly news. But rarely is it pointed out—with 1,800 or so words devoted to the topic—as it is in this week’s Page Six Magazine.
A spokesperson for the Rose Bar told the magazine, "The Rose Bar is extremely vigilant in preventing smoking by our patrons. There is a full-time staffperson whose sole responsibility is to monitor and prevent smoking within the bar." But Page Six‘s Sara Cardace, visiting the bar on a Thursday, spotted several patrons puffing, and quoted other sources pointing fingers at celebrity-hosting places like Citrine, SubMercer, and GoldBar.
Mayor Bloomberg is either clueless or willfully ignorant, Ms. Cardace concludes:
But a rep for the mayor’s office contacted via email by Daily Transom, had this to say:
(We increased our late night inspections because we found bars are more likely to let people smoke late at night because they do not expect inspections to occur.)