Approximately two years ago, Zachary’s owner Doug Pellum made a decision to allow smoking in his downtown eatery, while limiting his patrons to those 21 years old and above. But starting April 2, Zachary’s, 205 5th St. N, will be added to the list of non-smoking establishments in Columbus.

“Basically, everyone has health concerns and people want to eat in a place that does not allow smoking,” Pellum said. “We’ve lost a lot of our family business and this seemed like a good time to bring them back.”

The Columbus City Council outlawed smoking in all enclosed public areas in January 2010. The ordinance did have a loophole allowing smoking in places deemed a private club with an age restriction of 21 and over. Pellum said more than half of his clientele were smokers and he felt the adult club route was best for his business when the smoking ban was enforced.

“We went with it and it worked — for a while,” he said. “It really started to hurt us at lunch. We started out as a restaurant but then we became known as a bar. We are just trying to be a restaurant again.

Pellum said enforcing the non-smoking ordinance will be the best thing for all of his customers.

“As of April 2, anyone of any age will be welcome to dine with us at Zachary’s,” Pellum said. “We want to welcome back our old friends and get more families coming in. We will be rolling out a new menu and we will have specials all month long in attempt to bring back our old customers and attract some new ones. If people still want to smoke, they are welcome to do so on our patio.”

With Zachary’s placing the ban on smoking inside its walls, Sey’s Lounge, 1401 Old Aberdeen Rd., will remain the city’s last private club where patrons are allowed to smoke.

Sey’s co-owner Clyde Rhea could not be reached for comment.

Jeff Clark was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.