RACINE - The owners of Shillings Irish Pub are about to go where few taverns have willingly tread - into smoke-free territory.

Starting today, there will be no tobacco burning inside this European-style pub and restaurant at 611 Wisconsin Ave.

This makes Shillings, known for its

micro-brews and imported beers, apparently the county's second - and the city's first - smoke-free bar, according city and county tavern leagues.

Chat's Lounge inside the Racine Marriott in Mount Pleasant went smokeless in early 2006.

Shillings co-owner and operator Maureen Carmody said she and her husband, Michael, pondered the idea for months.

"I was going to do it for Lent, and then I was going to do it April 1 - but I thought, 'No, that will sound like a joke,' " Maureen said. "No one will believe it."

So she chose today - May 1. For the past week or two, Carmody has been alerting her customers, as well as people she knows from other settings.

"I've been hearing a lot of, 'Oh, good.' They're looking forward to it," she said.

But Carmody knows she's likely to lose some patrons, and Stacy Little, 25, of Racine, is one of them. Little, who was eating lunch - and smoking - at Shillings Tuesday with a companion was asked if she's likely to enter when it's smoke-free.

"Probably not," she replied. "Because we come here for lunch to get a smoke break and eat."

Carmody said she's had smokers tell her she's out of line because smoking in bars hasn't been outlawed.

"I have had people say they won't be coming in anymore," she said. "I would expect it that the smokers will want to go somewhere else."

But she thinks she will attract a different clientele. Carmody also thinks the odds are with her, because fewer than half of her customers were smokers.

Her change is a bit ironic because Shillings used to be considered a cigar bar, something Carmody recently phased out. "I am a nonsmoker," she said, "and I'd like to give other nonsmokers a place to go without being imposed by smokers. I know that there are others like myself who would like to go out for a Friday or Saturday night and not go home smelling like an ashtray, have to shower before bed, or undress in the garage, if you will."

Carmody also hopes that being Racine's only smoke-free tavern will help attract customers during the challenging Sixth Street reconstruction.

Smoke-free dining

She said that eliminating smoke will also be a chance to build the food part of her business. Two of her lunchtime customers Tuesday welcomed the chance to eat without breathing tobacco smoke.

Bruce Wortley, 86, of Racine is a former heavy smoker who quit in 1989 for health reasons.

"In a food environment, I'd prefer no smoke," he said. "Heavy smoke, it's just too much for me to breathe. It tends to bother me."

His lunch companion, Ida Kehl, 78, of Mount Pleasant is another former smoker who quit in 1975, after about a quarter-century of inhaling nicotine.

"That was our generation," she said. "I remember trying so hard to learn to smoke and be cool. And then I was hooked."

Kehl said she'll definitely be more inclined to go to Shillings now.

Shillings' new chef and General Manager Steven Schnur knew he was joining a smoke-free workplace. "It was one of the things that really appealed to me."

Ireland has outlawed smoking in public places, so this just makes Shillings Irish Pub even more authentic, Schnur said.

Racine Tavern League Treasurer Dan Taivalkoski was asked how he thinks a smoke-free Shillings will fare. "That's a tough one," he said. "I hope they do well … I think economics will dictate. If Shillings does very well with it, maybe others will do it."

"I'd like to give it a good go for at least six months," Carmody said. "I hope I won't need to go back on it."