The smoking ban in the Netherlands has been partially overturned, making the country Europe's first to rescind the ban.
It applies only to smaller pubs, but will come as very welcome news to the Dutch operators of gaming machines, which is in a very depressed state due to taxation and the smoking restrictions.
The ban was imposed two years ago, but now the regulations are to be lifted to permit small owner-operated bars of less than 753.5sq.ft in size and which have no other staff, to have smoking.
The change is in reaction to growing criticism of the ban, which was said to be driving small bars and pubs out of business. It is thought that 2,000 locations are immediately affected.
