Pub owners dither on licence renewal

Beer-only places face more restrictions than bars, and owners are wondering about the road ahead

With full lockdown restrictions continuing on pubs, many are reluctant to renew their excise licences.

Bars are now open, but the government has not allowed retail-vending-of-beer (RVB) licence holders to resume business.

That is one of the reasons a majority of pubs are yet to renew their excise licences, says Karunakar Hegde, vice-president, Federation of Wine Merchants’ Associations of Karnataka.

“Most pubs have a combined CL-9 (wine shop and bar licence) and RVB licence. But, if the establishments do not have separate counters for food and alcohol, they are not allowed to open the kitchen either. This is what has affected most of the smaller pubs,” he tells Metrolife.

Some 250 to 300 pubs in Bengaluru are yet to renew their licences.

They expect the government to ease restrictions on July 19, and will renew their licences only if things look up, he says.

The excise department is allowing the liquor trade to pay renewal fees in two instalments, and that is the only concession the business has received so far, Hegde says.

“The same concession was extended last year as well. But many licence holders were not even able to pay the first instalment in June as they had no business. The deadline for the second instalment is in December,” he says.

Lucky Chan, Indiranagar, is one of the few independent RVB licence holders functioning in the city. “So far, business has not been great. The crowd has not yet picked up. There are only about 15 independent RVBs in Bengaluru, and with such a small number, we have not been able to get any Covid relief from the government,” says Amit Ahuja, owner.

Chethan Hegde, founder, 1522 chain of pubs, says staffing is another worry.

“A majority of my staff hail from the North and North East and during the lockdown, most of them went back home. We haven’t been able to get them all back to Bengaluru,” he says.

Scene at microbreweries

While few microbreweries such as Prost and Arena are no longer functioning, others in the city are doing fine, says Karunakar Hegde. They are getting decent crowds since July 5, as they were allowed to start serving alcohol but the closing deadline is a problem, microbrewery owners Metrolife spoke to say. “At a microbrewery, the socialisation starts only in the late evening, but we have to close by 8.30 pm because of the 9 pm curfew. This is the biggest roadblock for us,” says Ajay Gowda, director, Byg Brewski Brewing Company.