Owners of pubs and bars are cautiously optimistic as their establishments are not on the list of prohibited activities in the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Many said they expected the State government to issue an official notification on the resumption of businesses within the next two days.

Manu Chandra, who is Bengaluru Chapter Head, National Restaurant Association of India, said: “Pubs and bars have been removed from the prohibition list. After that, it comes down to every State to issue their own circulars and clarifications. That’s when we will have more clarity and information.”

While pub and bar owners have safety measures and protocols in place such as use of sanitisers and social distancing norms, there is also the question of whether customers will turn up in good numbers or not. As of now, establishments cannot serve liquor.

Sibi Venkataraju, co-founder of Toit in Indiranagar, predicts a surge in patrons in the days immediately after restrictions are eased. “We have been seeing a reasonable number of people coming in, especially on weekends. I think initially we will have to do a lot more crowd control at the door. Assuming the rule remains operational at 50% capacity, we will most likely face a situation where there are more people wanting to come in than tables we have free. Earlier, the crowd would wait at the bar but that’s not possible now. We have to figure out how we are going to handle this. I think that’s the primary difference between how we are already operating at the restaurant and when the alcohol services open.”

However, the last five months have taken their toll on the industry, and some watering holes have already shut down. “A majority of businesses were brought to complete financial ruin, taking down with them a lot of allied businesses that were reliant on them. The only governments that gave hard cash (as relief) were largely western governments where the staff wasn’t out on the streets because there was a furlough programme in place,” said Mr. Manu.

The owner of a popular pub, who did not want to be named, described the last few months as a nightmare for the F&B industry. “While there were several things that hit us hard from demonitisation to GST, this is the worst. If you go down 12th Main in Indiranagar, the sheer number of buildings that were home to restaurants and pubs but now have to-let signs is shocking.” He added that in Karnataka, no relief was given regarding renewal of liquor licence, which was collected in June. “The only option given was to pay the amount (which runs into lakhs) in two instalments,” he said.