JOIN USNew Year's eve might leave you hungry
For a place known for its formidable revelry and not a few tears every New Year’s eve, the last night of 2010 on M G Road and Brigade Road will be crowded. The many bars and pubs will, of course, remain open and cash in on the celebratory mood, but restaurants like Ebony at Barton Centre and Soul on M G Road will shut early. So book your tables in advance.
“We will close soon after the traffic and parking curbs are imposed tomorrow (Friday),” an Ebony representative said. Besides, as of Thursday, several restaurants on Church Street appeared undecided on whether they should close or remain open till late on Friday.
But there is good news for the City’s guzzlers since the pubs off Brigade Road will remain open and offer something that will match the food, match the company, match the feeling in the air. Even Pecos, the iconic pub on Guest House Road, off Brigade Road, is contemplating breaking a 25-year-old practice: It will remain open beyond 6 pm on New Year’s eve and that will bring some cheers to lovers of the right music and the right drink.
“We are planning to stay open this time. But we will take a final call on Friday,” a veteran Pecos bartender said. If the pub’s management does take a decision to remain open, its associated watering holes — Mojo’s, Stones and Pecos R&B — will also do business.
Things might look up for the pubs, dance bars and liquor stores because this time the police establishment has taken a decision to allow them to sell and serve liquor till 1 am, a departure from decisions taken in the last two years.
On Tuesday evening, the West Division police invited dance bars owners at Chikpet police station and conveyed its decision. On Wednesday evening, a similar meeting was held by the Central Division at the Ashok Nagar police station where liquor store and restaurant owners were told about the dos and don’ts for New Year’s eve.
This would mean that on December 31 night even occasional drinkers will find numerous occasions to lift a glass.
Security concerns
The police department will have an array of security concerns to deal with when revellers flood M G Road, Church Street and Brigade Road, which has been lit up with a canopy of lights, to ring in 2011.
At least 100 policemen will be dispersed throughtout the crowd, including some in plain clothes, to ensure that the revelry does not go out of hand.