Amsterdam - Dutch smokers, who want to smoke in a restaurant or cafe, can now click onto a new smokers restaurant database, according to the online publisher Tressis. Smoking was recently banned in all Dutch restaurants, cafes and bars, except in places that have separate smokers' rooms or corners with ventilation facilities.
However, the places where smoking is allowed are in the minority and are hard to find.
By registering one's restaurant on the website www.hiermaghetwel.nl, cafes and restaurants can help smokers find them easily and quickly.
The database covers all of the Netherlands and an estimated 200 restaurants, cafes and bars have already registered.
A spokeswoman for Tressis says the publisher does not advocate smoking, but only "provides a service."
The new initiative is the second public attempt since the smoking ban came into force on July 1, enabling Dutch smokers to continue their smoking habits in public.
In early July, a group of Dutch smokers founded the so-called Smokers Church, which currently has more than 3,100 members.
The group, which says it believes in "the trinity of fire, ash and smoke," claims that smoking is a way of expressing their religion. Prohibiting them from smoking would violate their civil rights, the group says.
So far, Dutch authorities have fined all restaurant and bar owners who permitted members of the Smokers Church to smoke in their respective venues.
