Dublin Jack in Central may be the only pub in Hong Kong where patrons are banned from lighting up, but there are nearly 800 registered smoke-free restaurants in the city, according to health officials.
Despite the catering industry's concerns that restaurant receipts would plummet if forthcoming regulations to ban smoking in all pubs and restaurants take effect, most eateries reported business as usual after going smoke-free.
A total of 781 restaurants have opted to be listed on the 2004 Hong Kong Smoke-free Restaurants Guide, first published by the Health Department's tobacco control office in March. Hong Kong has a total of 9,862 restaurants.
The guide is intended to help provide more choice for non-smokers when dining out. It is dominated by fast-food chains such as McDonald's, Cafe de Coral and Genki Sushi, but also includes a handful of more upmarket restaurants.
'We went smoke-free in March when we heard about this programme. I can't say we really noticed any change in business,' said Karen Leung, a spokeswoman for fast-food chain KFC.
Noel Smyth, managing director for the group that owns Dublin Jack, said business had been satisfactory in the three weeks since the pub banned smoking.