Pubs and other watering holes restarted business on Tuesday after a long break of over five months. Business was slow and patrons were very few on Tuesday evening. But the excitement to be open again was evident, and many pubs said they are confident that business will pick up by the weekend.

Ranveer Sibani, Business Head, South India, Impresario, that runs chain of restaurants Social and Smoke House Deli, said: “People are working from home and Tuesday is the last day of Ganesha festival, a day that is often observed without meat and alcohol. We need to wait till the weekend to see how it pans out. We hope that business picks up by the weekend.”

Many pubs have institutionalised several precautionary measures over and above those stipulated by the State government, to build confidence among the patrons. A pub owner who wished not to be named said that almost all pubs, clubs and resto-bars had gone for contactless dining where the menu, placing orders and payments are through mobile phones. “As we can take only up to 50% of our capacity, we have gone to taking patrons by reservation only. Many establishments have done so,” he said.

Arvind Raju of Biere Club said that they had also decided to take patrons by reservation only. “We have got an in-house person trained in sanitisation. We have banned smoking on the premises and even raw food. We are serving only cooked food even in the salads section,” he said, adding the response was encouraging and that he was confident that the industry will bounce back in the next few weeks.

However, not all watering holes opened on Tuesday. Collin Timms, founder and mentor of Pecos Pub, said the supply chain of draught beer was yet to resume and hence Pecos was not opened on Tuesday. “We will open in the next two or three days,” he said. Several other establishments that serve only draught beer also did not open on Tuesday.