Four months after a smoking ban was imposed in bars and restaurants in Boston, bar and restaurant owners are turning to patios in a last-ditch attempt to save their businesses, reports The New York Times.

Business in Boston’s hospitality market is down 60% since the ban, with customers travelling to cities where smoking bans are not in force, leaving many operators in Boston’s hospitality market struggling to stay afloat.

In a bid to keep everyone happy, operators are applying for permits to build patios on the side of their businesses so that they can serve food and drink to customers outside who wish to smoke.

The Mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino, has promised restaurant and bar owners that applications to build outdoor seating areas will be ushered through quickly to avoid further damage to businesses in the area.

Pam Beale who runs an eating establishment in the city called Cornwalls, believes something needs to change to bring back the smokers that have gone elsewhere since the ban. Cornwalls trade has dropped by 30%.

“There’s loyalty, there’s friendship, and then there’s addiction. Right now, we only have two out of three. People are going where they can smoke.”

Boston’s public health commission, which enforced the ban, called the idea of introducing patios a “good creative approach for businesses to cooperate with the new law.”