Updated January 20, 2011
St. Louis City and County enacted a smoking ban on public places on January 2, 2011.
There are some exemptions, so people looking for a place to go out and smoke still have some options.
St. Louis County:
In St. Louis County, the law allows bars with limited food sales to be exempt. St. Louis County has a list of drinking establishments that have received exemptions from the smoking ban (officially the St. Louis County Indoor Clean Air Act).
The law exempts:
- “drinking establishments” that sell 25% or less of their revenue for food
- casinos
- retail tobacco stores (with 60% or more from sale of tobacco)
- cigar bars
- outdoor dining areas
- private clubs (not exempt when open to the public)
- private residences not serving as a place of employment
- 20% of hotel/motel rooms (if designated)
Scroll down to the bottom of this article for a map of the exempt bars.
St. Louis City:
I’ve been communicating with Mayor Slay, and he said that the city is working on a list of exempt bars. They are trying to avoid granting exemptions too hastily and having some mistakes as St. Louis County did with bowling alleys.
As of January 8, he tells me that over 100 establishments have applied for the exemption, and most have been inspected and measured (the city includes a maximum square footage requirement on exempt drinking establishments). He says that some of the businesses which applied have not been approved.
The official rules for the city exemption are:
- bars that sell 25% or less of their revenue for food AND are 2,000 square feet or less (minus kitchen, storage and restroom areas) *exemption expires in Jan 2015
- casino gaming floors
- retail tobacco stores (with 50% or more from sale of tobacco)
- outdoor dining and employment areas
- private clubs (not exempt when open to the public)
- private residences not serving as a daycare or health care facility
- 20% of hotel/motel rooms (if designated)
Scroll down to the bottom of this article for a map of the exempt bars.
Map of Bars where is Smoking Allowed:
Since I couldn’t find anything that showed the exempt bars on a map, I went ahead and put one together. This map displays drinking establishments that still ALLOW smoking.
IMPORTANT NOTE: While the city is working their way through the applicants to see who is approved, I have added them to the map since I’m assuming most will be approved. PLEASE call to confirm the smoking policy before heading out if you are going one of the bars located in St. Louis City.
Whether you are using this map to find places you can still go to smoke, or places you want to avoid, I hope you find it helpful.
As soon as the city publishes a list of exempt bars, I’ll update the map to make sure that only smoking-permitted bars are on it.
St. Louis County bars are based on the exemptions granted as of 12/31/10.
If you find any errors or any places that are missing from the list, please contact us so the map can be updated.
