BENGALURU: Pub hopping, late-night New Year parties... all of this sounds like a thing of the past. To control the rise in Covid cases, the state government has put in place a night curfew from December 28 for 10 days between 10 pm and 5 am. The curfew comes as a huge disappointment for restaurateurs and pub owners, who are still recovering from the losses incurred during the lockdown.
With 50 per cent occupancy allowed, restaurants and pubs are now seeing last-minute cancellations. Siddharth Bala, the owner of Sherlock Pub on MG Road, feels that imposing a night curfew ahead of New Year’s has inconvenienced many. “We had planned an unlimited buffet and drinks and have sold around 60 per cent of the vouchers.
Now, with limited time in hand, we have started getting cancellations for which we have to refund,” says Bala, adding “One of the rules says that by Dec 30, all our staff has to go through RT-PCR tests. We have around 50 staff members and the tests don’t come cheap. It’s always the nightlife that is targeted even while public places like malls are packed during operational hours.”
Speaking on similar lines, Chethan Hegde, partner, 1522 and SuzyQ, says the curfew is hugely disappointing to the industry as they are still recovering from losses incurred during the year. “In the older guidelines, we were informed of 50 per cent occupancy. There was no time restriction and we had planned for the same and had taken table reservations accordingly. With time restrictions, we foresee cancellations while people might leave the city or celebrate at home,” says Hegde, adding that this will heavily impact the business.
However, many do understand the importance of the situation and support the curfew. “We are in full support of all the directives made by the government in containing the Covid spread. We will comply with all these measures,” says Terence Prasad, general manager, Uru Brewpark.
Adding to it, Keshav VS, general manager at The Pumphouse, says the curfew is to avoid future lockdowns and exponential growth of Covid cases. “As restaurant owners, we should understand the situation. As an individual, I have the biggest fear of lockdowns since we are not able to afford this any more... so night curfews are better in a way,” says Keshav.