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Královské (Royal) Cookie is a shop on Prague’s Vinohradská St. with a number of regal connections. The district has traditionally been known as Royal Vinohrady and, says UK-born co-owner Steve Gray, there is also a link between the business and the Queen of England. Gray runs Královské Cookie – whose flagship huge cookies are decorated according to customers’ requests – with his Czech boyfriend Petr, whom he met in London. When we spoke recently at the cosy shop, the Englishman filled me in on its origins.

New anti-smoking legislation, risen from the ashes of a similar bill shot down in last month, will again be debated in the lower house. At stake is a full ban on smoking in restaurants. The government is hoping this time the bill gets the necessary support not least from coalition MPs.

It has been estimated that an enormous amount of food - 88 million tonnes is wasted in the European Union annually. A new campaign by the Zachraň Jidlo initiative wants to make a small dent in food waste the Czech Republic, reporting that up to one-fifth of fruit and vegetables is thrown away without ever making it to the store, for strictly cosmetic reasons.

Shops and restaurants will not be banned from advertising their goods and services solely in a foreign language, the ctk news agency reported. A draft bill which would have allowed municipalities to issue such a ban, forcing entrepreneurs to advertise in Czech as well, was rejected by deputies in the lower house on Friday. The bill emerged in reaction to complaints from municipalities and citizens. For instance Karlovy Vary, which has a large Russian community, pointed out that a large number of shops and restaurants only advertise their goods and services in Russian which is often incomprehensible to the locals. Critics of the bill, led by the Civic Democratic Party, said it would be an unjustified bureaucratic intervention into local enterprise.

Surveys have repeatedly shown that a majority in the Czech Republic would favour of a ban on smoking in the country’s pubs and restaurants. Polling agency Ipsos, together with the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University, has long mapped how people feel on the matter. Proposed anti-smoking legislation was killed in the lower house this week, causing a rift in the coalition and leaving the Czech Republic still isolated in Europe when it comes to regulating smoking.

The latest failed attempt to ban smoking in Czech pubs and restaurants has left the country’s government looking distinctly shaky. Since Wednesday’s lower house vote coalition partners ANO and the Social Democrats have each been blaming the other for the collapse of the much-discussed bill.

Lawmakers in the lower house of parliament failed to back a blanket ban on smoking in restaurants on Wednesday. The move, promoted by minister of health Svatopluk Němeček, failed to win sufficient support even after the minister offered to make some concessions. The vote means that the Czech Republic remains a bastion of smoking in Europe. Government parties failed to give the proposed ban sufficient support with the ANO party splitting three ways in the vote much to the anger of coalition partners the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats.

Almost half of some 5,000 checks of drinking establishments by the Czech Trade Inspection Authority last year revealed shortcomings, with proprietors either overcharging on beverages or selling customers short. On the positive side, the authority reported that no sales of bootleg liquor were uncovered; in 2012, the Czech Republic saw dozens of deaths related to bootleg liquor containing methanol. In all, the bureau handed down some 1,700 fines amounting to more than five million crowns.

The traditional pub Baráčnická rychta in Prague’s Malá Strana district is set for closure at the end of June, E15 reported. The old society of baráčníks (cottage owners) to which the pub belongs failed to reach agreement on extending the contract of the current operator and instead made a deal to lease it to an upmarket Italian-owned hotel located next door, the newspaper said. A hall joined to the pub is a well-known venue for social events and concerts.

In the first quarter of 2015 hygiene officers conducted over 4,000 inspections of restaurants and eateries around the country, Czech Radio reported on Friday. Seven eateries were closed down, 44 cases required sanitation measures and in 36 cases they ordered the food in storage to be destroyed. Inspectors handed out close to 800 fines to the tune of 2.4 million crowns. The most frequent problems concerned hygiene and food storage conditions as well as information provided regarding allergens in foods.