Now this might be the difference -- my town is mid sized and a lot more sprawly. My hypothesis is that folks had for years settled into lifestyles that didn't involve going to bars, and moved into zones that had few or no bars. When the city banned smoking, folks didn't suddenly change their lifestyles.

It's been something like a decade, and things have kind of gotten back to normal (present circumstances aside, of course). But it took a long time.