Pubs, bars hope licences will be renewed by weekend

"We are serving alcohol,'' said a board displayed in front an upmarket pub on St Mark's Road.

Hard Rock Cafe, which is one of the first waterholes to get its excise licence renewed, resumed serving liquor from Sunday. But not all are that lucky and expressed hope of getting their licences renewed by this weekend.

"The application has been sent in from our side and we are waiting to hear from them. I think it’ll be done by this weekend and we can start serving liquor then,” a pub owner on Church Street said.

Ashish Kothare, president of the Association of Bars and Restaurants, Pubs and Hotels, Bengaluru says that most places have already applied for the licence renewal and should receive it by the end of the week.

“The two major liquor licences that need to be renewed are, the CL - 9 (Bar and restaurants in urban areas) and RVB (Retail Vend of Beer). CL-9 licence costs 8.62 lakh and the RVB licence costs Rs 17,250,” he said.

A few owners who did not want to be named, said that some officials of the excise department are demanding exorbitant bribes for the renewal of licences. They say officials are demanding anywhere between Rs 30 lakh and Rs Rs 40 lakh.

"The officials will otherwise conduct inspections and cite rules just to harass us,” said an anonymous source.