France has joined several other European countries in imposing a ban on smoking in bars, cafes and restaurants. The ban came into effect at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Most people appear to have accepted the prohibition as inevitable, though there’s strong resistance in rural France. Hugh Schofield reports.

Here in the Point du Jour bar in the town of Cosne sur Loire in Burgundy the tobacco ban has, shall we say, not quite yet come into effect. There’s a group of four or five men beside me here at the counter and they’re all busy puffing away. Have no fear though, this does not mean that the ban is without teeth. The fact is that the government has given a twenty-four hour reprieve for people to bring in the New Year. And from tomorrow, everyone here concedes they will be respecting the law. If they want a ‘cloppe’ or a fag, it’ll be outside on the pavement or in their cars.

It’s in places like this deep in the heart of the French countryside that resistance to the smoking ban has been at its strongest. People see it here as an affront to personal liberty and as a threat to a traditional way of life centred on the village cafe. But the fines are large, the government says it means business.

And so from tomorrow here at the Point du Jour bar as across the rest of France, the morning coffee and cigarette will be a thing of the past.

Will smoking bans mean a cultural shift for Paris and Berlin? What do you make of smoking bans in the German and French capitals?

Smoking has been banned in bars in the capitals of France and Germany but the laws will not be enforced immediately.

The Parisian ban is seen as a big cultural shift for France, where smoky cafes have long been the haunts of famous artists and philosophers.

Similar bans are already in place in Britain, Ireland, Italy and Spain.

Do you welcome the move? Or are you a smoker disappointed by the news? Do you live in a country that already has a ban? Send us your views and experiences.