Pubgoers in Bengaluru returned to their favourite watering holes for the first time in five months after bars and pubs across the city were reopened to serve liquor under Unlock 4.
Bars and pubs in the city were closed on March 22 following the Janata Curfew announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"We are following the standard operating procedures laid down by the government. We have spaced out our tables and removed around 8 tables from the ground floor area. Customers have to go through a temperature check while entering the bar and they have to wear masks and maintain distancing. Empty tables are sanitised every time a customer leaves," Jagdish, manager of the popular Bob's Bar in Indiranagar told TNM.
The guidelines allow bars and pubs to serve 50% of customers at a time in their premises as per their seating capacity so as to ensure 6-feet physical distancing is maintained.
A fairly high number of people thronged to Bob's Bar on Tuesday night and managing the crowd that turns up at bars was an issue. The seating area on the ground floor was almost full. "We will be making changes to our system to ensure that the crowd is 50%," Jagdish said.
While some popular bars like Bob's, Toit and Sarathi in Indiranagar were open, others like Pecos, Three Dots and a Dash, and Barebones in the same area remained closed on Tuesday night. Excise officials told TNM around 600 bars and pubs reopened on Tuesday.
"This is not the usual crowd we are used to on a Tuesday night, but we have begun serving customers following the restrictions laid down. This is also a working day so it is too early to tell whether the demand is lesser," Hamesh Kumar, manager at Toit Bar told TNM.
The waiters have to sanitise the area and tables after one set of customers leave and before the other customers occupy them.
"As stipulated in the SOP, the air-conditioning in all bars and pubs has been set on 24-30 degrees Celsius. Orders are placed contactless and payment is through digital mode to avoid touching any surface or object," state federation of wine merchants' association Govindraj Hegde said.
Though the state government reopened liquor sale through retail outlets since May 4 and allowed bars and pubs to sell their stock piled up due to lockdown since Unlock 1 began on June 8, serving of drinks was not allowed till September 1. Restaurants are also allowed to serve liquor along with food as per guidelines.
According to state excise minister H Nagesh, the state government has suffered an estimated Rs 1,435 crore loss due to restricted sales and ban on serving liquor in bars, restaurants and pubs.
The excise department has set a revenue target for this fiscal (2020-21) of Rs 22,700 crore.
With inputs from IANS