Another private club has agreed to a total ban on smoking in its premises.

An overwhelming majority of members this week voted to impose a complete ban on smoking at the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society?s theatre and bar in Hamilton.

As from January 1 there will be no lighting up allowed at the downstairs bar area, which was already the last refuge for smokers at the theatre building on the corner of Dundonald Street and Washington Street.

In future smokers will now have to go outside if they want to light up.

The move has been welcomed by Health Minister Patrice Minors and comes on the eve of expected new legislation to outlaw smoking in all enclosed public places on the Island as well as making it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18.

?Many restaurants have already made the decision to ban smoking from their premises and we are in the throws of finalising legislation regarding smoking in public areas,? said Mrs. Minors.

?Our intention is to table that legislation and have it passed before the end of this year.

?I welcome the theatre?s decision. We are encouraged by any establishment which is making such a move that ultimately leads to a safer and healthier environment.?

Explaining the BMDS?s decision to ban all smoking from its Daylesford theatre building, President Kelvin Hastings-Smith said: ?Over the years people have thought of the bar area as a sleazy 50s-type bar. Four years ago we had renovations done to make it more of a New York theatre bar and we set up a segregation area for smokers.?

The society had previously tried to keep smokers and non-smokers apart with two rooms, but this arrangement had not been satisfactory and an attempt to adjust air filtration and air flow to keep non-smokers from breathing in second-hand smoke had also proved unsuccessful.

?People went down to the bar and said they came away smelling like an ashtray whether they were smokers or not. The executives were hearing the complaints and we were also having trouble getting volunteer bartenders,? said Mr. Hastings-Smith. ?It was the last area of the building where smoking was allowed and it was an area where people would go to have a smoke and to talk, but people nowadays realise that passive smoking kills.?

At the society?s annual meeting on Wednesday the issue of smoking at the bar was heavily debated and resulted in a majority decision to ban smoking in the Daylesford theatre from January, according to Mr. Hastings-Smith, who said: ?We are now looking to provide an area outside of Daylesford for smokers. We hope this will encourage smokers to either stop or to cut down.?

An Italian actor earlier this week had to stub out a cigarette on stage after a member of the audience complained during a production of an Arthur Miller play. Italy introduced a ban on all smoking in enclosed public places, including theatres, in July.

Asked if such a stringent rule would apply to future BMDS productions, Mr. Hastings-Smith said: ?Providing we don?t have smoking on a gratuitous basis in any plays then we would allow it if it is part and parcel of what the playwright was trying to get across.?