Drinking and smoking go hand-in-hand — a cigarette in one, a beer in the other — for many who enjoy the lively nightlife Boston has to offer.

However, smokers may be forced to change their ways in the near future if a proposed smoking ban becomes regulation.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino voiced his support yesterday for a worksite smoking ban that would include bars, nightclubs and restaurants. The ban would protect workers and patrons from breathing second-hand smoke, according to a Boston Public Health Commission press release.

“Certain workers spend 20 to 40 hours a week surrounded by smoke,” said BPHC Communications Director Kristin O’Connor. “It’s really for worker health.”

A narrower ban was passed more than four years ago that limited smoking to bar areas only in Boston restaurants. After approving the measure, Health Economics Research, Inc., a Waltham-based research firm, evaluated the economic impact of the ban on local restaurants.

The study, released yesterday at a news conference supporting the ban, showed putting limitations on smoking created no loss of revenue. It also showed border towns and communities with wider smoking regulations were not getting more business than Boston restaurants.

“The 1998 ban did not have a negative impact on business, so he decided to go forward with the fuller ban,” O’Connor explained.

A full smoking ban was implemented in Brookline more than six years ago. Aengus O’Leary, owner of O’Leary’s Pub at 1010 Beacon Street, noticed a slight change in business when the measure was first enacted but said people adjusted quickly.

O’Leary hypothesized the Boston ban will ultimately create a fairer business atmosphere because people who want to smoke will have no available options.

“If you have the ban everywhere, there’s no need for concern because everyone’s playing on the same field,” he said.

However, Pierre Rogers, assistant manager of Churchill’s cigar lounge and bar in downtown Boston, said infringing on customers’ rights to smoke is a dangerous move.

“It’s a person’s right to smoke, just like it’s a person’s right to drink,” Rogers said. “This would certainly hurt our business,” he added.

Smoker Shannon Feltch, of Suffolk, also said she believed businesses would suffer under the ban.

“If you’re at a club and drinking, you should be allowed to smoke, too,” Feltch said. “If you’re in a restaurant, you don’t want to go outside to smoke.”

Members of the smoking and barhopping public expressed concern about their smoking options once the weather gets cold and Boston winter sets in.

“I think it’s really absurd,” said College of Arts and Sciences junior and smoker Mary Ellen Williams. “Where are you supposed to smoke especially in the winter? On the curb? In the streets? If you’re bothered by smoke, work in a library – no one’s forcing you to work in a bar.”

The board of the BPHC will most likely draft a regulation at a Friday board meeting. The regulation will then be open to public consideration. Those who oppose the ban will have the opportunity to voice their objections during a public opinion period that will last approximately four to six weeks.

“Drinking in bars is synonymous with smoking,” said College of Communication junior Caitlin Satchell. “It’s impossible to separate the two.”