Pubs, revellers cheer Supreme Court's clarification;CBD set to regain its spirit

After nearly two months, bars, pubs and restaurants on MG Road, Brigade Road and Church Street could be serving alcohol officially, again.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday clarified that its ban on the sale of liquor within 500 metres of highways does not apply to licensed outlets that fall within municipal limits.

The news brought some cheer to owners and employees of restaurants, bars and pubs in the city’s central business district (CBD). 

“We were under severe loss for past two months. We will now open the pub and welcome guests. We have already approached the excise department to renew our licence,” said Raghu, manager, Le Rock Restaurant, Brigade road.

Once the liquor licences are renewed, at least 85% of the closed restaurants, pubs and bars will bounce back into action in the CBD.

Mohanish Ghorpade, assistant branch manager of
Hard Rock Cafe says, “We will start serving alcoholic beverages once we receive the licence. We hope to get it in three to four days”.

Most of the restaurants which had already shifted to other places now want to shift back. Raghunath, branch manager of Russh Gastropub, Church Street said: “We have closed our restaurant for now and we will relaunch it with new offers after renovation to get back our customers. We had planned to shift but the court clarification has made it easy to operate again”.

N Srinivas Gowda, general manager of Pecos Hotels and Pubs Pvt Ltd said, “We had shifted from Brigade Road to BTM Layout, but that’s not an issue now and we will reopen the Brigade Road branch. Hence, we sent messages to our employees to return to work after the Supreme Court’s verdict. We lost 35% of the business in the past two months.’’

Meanwhile, tipplers too welcomed the top court’s decision to allow liquor vends to operate.
“Glad to know about the Supreme Court’s clarification on the closure of the pubs and bars. Now, I can visit my favourite pubs on Brigade Road with my friends,” said Puneeth Rao a customer.

Bharath, another regular at a watering hole on Church Street expressed happiness that he and his friends can
visit their favourite haunts soon.

Abhishek Singh, a frequent visitor to a pub on MG Road, said that he is not just happy for with the reopening of pubs but also for those who had lost their jobs.

“It (reopening) will also restore lost jobs, tourism, and revenues,”  said Singh.

DH News Service