Buckets Tavern has banned smoking inside the building at 810 West Avenue in Jenkintown, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today.

According to the story, Buckets stayed open following the SPS Technologies fire while other establishments in the shelter-in-place radius closed. One of the area’s few remaining smoking bars, “its regulars are accustomed to some haze,” The Inquirer said.

The new mandate comes 17 years after Pennsylvania’s Clean Indoor Air Act was passed. The bar closed this past week to “install a new ceiling and spruce up the place with fresh paint, tables, and chairs.” It reopened on Saturday.

“It’s just that time,” owner Joe Braman told The Inquirer. “We have people come in to our bar, turn right around, and walk out. There’s more nonsmokers than smokers. It’s a percentage. Kids today, they didn’t grow up with smoke. Their parents didn’t even smoke.”

“We care about our regulars, and we discussed it with them. But we let them know, it’s time for us to make the change,” Buckets’ managing partner Matthew Martin said. “We feel that they’ll be back. They’ll just go outside and smoke, like they do everywhere else.”

The article goes on to point out the volume of taverns that have popped up in Jenkintown since Buckets opened 54 years ago, including the Keep Easy, Human Robot, the Drake Tavern, King’s Corner, and Newbolds.

The story also briefs the history of Buckets’ purchase in 1971 by Johnny Martin (no relation to Matthew) before Braman, who also owned Hollywood Tavern until last year, and Matthew Martin took over in 2004.

“Johnny Martin, on a weekly basis, he’d pump more draft beer out than any bar in Montgomery County,” Braman said. “People were hanging out the door.”

So far, the changes to Buckets have been welcome, and include “different food specials for a more diverse crowd,” The Inquirer said.

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Photo: Restaurant Guru