Kolkata: Tipplers in the city raised a midnight toast after the Ashtami dry day came to an end. Many thronged bars to celebrate with a late-night drink and multiple restaurants in central and south Kolkata and Park Street remained open till 2 am. Liquor sales were brisk and surpassed the expectations of restaurants.WhatsUp Cafe on Southern Avenue opened its bar at the stroke of midnight and was swarmed by visitors. “The footfall started rising at around 10 pm, and the crowd lingered and grew manifold by midnight. We ran our bar till 1.30 am and sales of both liquor and food exceeded our expectations. The additional Saptami day and the midnight opening of a bar more than made up for the dry day on Ashtami when things had slowed a bit. This was a very progressive move by govt and something which revellers loved. Overall, our sales increased by 60% over last year’s,” said owner Anirban Sengupta, also the co-chapter head of National Restaurants’ Association of India (NRAI).Bars at Bar-B-Q, Flavours of China and One Step up on Park Street were also thrown open at midnight. “The crowd was decent and liquor sales were brisk. Our bars remained open for an hour till 1 am on Monday morning,” said owner Rajiv Kothari.Liquor sales saw a sharp spurt on the second Saptami. “Both off-shops and bars saw a huge spike in liquor sales on Sunday. It made up around 70% of the sales we would have had on Ashtami. We had planned a midnight opening of a bar on Ashtami but didn’t get the clearance,” said Hotel and Restaurants’ Association of Eastern India president Sudesh Poddar.“We were excited since this was new but were also sceptical since it would be very late. But we were swarmed by visitors who ordered generously and had a party till 2 am,” said the owner of a central Kolkata bar.Specialty Restaurants outlets with bars, including Hoppipola, Mainland China and Cafe Mezzuna, however, did not serve liquor on Ashtami midnight. “Our outlets are not late-night spots,” said Specialty MD Anjan Chatterjee.A governing body member of Society for the Welfare of Foreign Liquor Licensees said: “While we had expected a steeper rise, sales rose by a mere 5% in terms of litres. Sales in monetary terms were higher as prices of several brands have increased since last puja.”(With inputs from Kaushik Pradhan)
