Bars in Hyderabad are reopening from September 1: Unlock 4!

The Central government’s guidelines on Unlock 4.0 have come as a breather for bars and restaurants across the city as they are allowed to serve alcohol from September 1 after the shutdown of business for 170 days.

With the Telangana government expected to issue a government order following the Central government norms this week, restaurants and bars in the city are gearing up to resume operations. Bars and restaurants in the city have been under severe financial stress as businesses remained shuttered since March. While many restaurants reopened for food deliveries, for others, liquor accounts for almost 80% of their business.

“We are waiting to get standard operating procedures from the state government before we go ahead and reopen our shops. Considering it is Covid-19 time, we will no longer be able to accommodate as many consumers at one time as we used to. Maintaining social distancing and sanitization protocol, we will be able to resume operations,” said Narsing Rao, owner of a chain of bars including Club 8, Begumpet, and Club Rogue, Gachibowli in Hyderabad, hoping that the business will flourish by December.

While the move is set to bring relief to bar owners, many have sought relaxation in terms of renewals of their licenses. “We have lost almost six months of our business. On September 30, our licenses are up for renewals. Considering we did not have the cash flow for the last six months, we hope that the government will give us a blanket extension of six more months in order to concentrate on our operations and be able to recover our losses,” said Shaaz Mehmood, partner, Olive Group, Hyderabad.

The move doesn’t seem so encouraging for star hotels as they said that unless the traveling of corporates and tourists resume, serving of liquor will barely make any difference to the business. “Since wine shops are open, people still prefer to buy liquor bottles and drink at home. There would be hardly any consumers who would end up at a star hotel and indulge in liquor. Unless corporates and tourists come back to the hotels, this move may not bring much difference to our operations,” said Pradeep Dutt, vice-president of Hotels and Restaurants Association of Telangana.

News Courtesy: ET