San Francisco weighs ban on smoking outside bars and taverns

If San Francisco bars lose the right to let customers smoke on patios, the cigarette smoke may not vanish so much as move to the sidewalk, where bartenders, neighbors and workers on late-night shifts would still feel it. That is the street-level tradeoff now before City Hall: cleaner air for some blocks, and a new enforcement problem for others.

Supervisor Myrna Melgar’s proposal would tighten the city’s smoke-free rules for bars and taverns and remove long-standing exceptions. Under current Health Code rules, smoking is allowed only in historically compliant semi-enclosed smoking rooms approved by the city or in a portion of an outdoor patio that sits at least 10 feet from a bar or tavern’s entry, exit or operable window. The ordinance moving through City Hall would ban smoking on outdoor patios at bars and taverns and eliminate several of those older carve-outs.

Public-health advocates argue San Francisco should catch up with neighboring cities and a broader statewide push to reduce secondhand smoke exposure. The California Department of Public Health says secondhand smoke exposure remains widespread in California and notes that, as of January 2024, 53 California jurisdictions had comprehensive outdoor smoke-free policies and 400 had policies covering at least one outdoor area. Health officials also say there is no risk-free level of secondhand-smoke exposure, including in outdoor or partially enclosed spaces where workers and patrons still gather.

Bar owners and business groups see the proposal differently. They worry it could drive smokers onto sidewalks, create more friction with nearby residents, and make nightlife businesses less welcoming at a moment when many are still trying to recover from the pandemic and other economic pressures. Local coverage has estimated the policy could affect about 50 bars, a significant number for a city where patio and parklet seating can be part of a bar’s identity and bottom line.

The city’s Small Business Commission heard the proposal on April 27 and ultimately issued a motion of no support after a robust discussion about the impact on bars and taverns with smoking patios. The measure, identified as BOS File No. 260361, was scheduled for the Land Use and Transportation Committee and could still move to the full Board of Supervisors in June.

The broader fight is about more than cigarettes. It is about how San Francisco regulates shared space, who pays the price when the city rewrites the rules for a night out, and whether public health gains outweigh the strain on already fragile nightlife corridors.