IT MAY have been a quarter of a century ago, but I can clearly remember my husband's irritation when he and a couple of mates were having a meal in a vegetarian restaurant and were asked to move to the smoking area.

If I remember rightly, he didn't enjoy the evening, at a restaurant in Streatham, South London, and came back ranting about being made to feel like a criminal by "veggie, hippie types".

At that time, it was rare, even in London, to come across a vegetarian restaurant, let alone a no smoking zone.

Had he been told at the time that, 25 years on, that he would be unable to light up in any restaurant or pub in the country he would have eaten all his tab ends.

Yet here we are, in 2007, with a ban on smoking in all public indoor spaces.

At least it will get rid of no smoking areas. These are fine in principle, but cramming every smoker into one small area can sometimes backfire.

On days out in Scarborough, we visit a fish and chip restaurant which has stuck all the smokers in a tiny area near the front. You open the door to the sort of smog they had in 19th century London. You half expect to see Jack the Ripper emerging from the gloom. You really do cough your way through, and any non-smoker who is unaware that, beyond the fog there's a long room, with clean(ish) air at the end, would beat a retreat before you could say "One of each with scraps".

There are places and occasions, however, where smoke adds to the atmosphere. It would hang in the air above the pool tables of pubs I used to frequent, giving a slightly sleazy, yet oddly cosy, feel. And top-level darts isn't half as entertaining since fags and booze were banned.

As a non-smoker, smoke in pubs never bothered me. I'm all for a ban in the workplace, but it does seem a little harsh to outlaw special smoking rooms in offices. I felt sorry for a group of colleagues recently, huddled together in the pouring rain, cigarette in one hand, umbrella in the other.

One of my husband's friends worries how the new rules will affect prisons - I'm beginning to have my own concerns about him - where people are locked up for the majority of the day, and where cigarettes are the main currency (at least they are in Porridge). "What will they do?" he asked, with genuine angst.

The smoking ban has seen the emergence of wooden verandas, like something out of Anne Of Green Gables, but without the rag rugs and rocking chairs. There's a pub near us that now looks less like the Rose & Crown and more like the OK Corral, with a wrap-around veranda that lends itself perfectly to 21st century Wild West-style brawls.

It could be argued that there are worse things than cigarettes, things which should be banned outright - things like dropping litter and the use of mobile phones when driving. Oh, silly me, both are illegal, although no one takes a blind bit of notice. Maybe in another 25 years...