‘Forced to downsize': Once hubs for live performances, Gurgaon's BYOB venues hit by new restrictions

Indian Express

8 hours ago

'While we are being forced to downsize without being heard, other states are looking at Gurgaon's Bring Your Own Booze (BYOB) joints as an example. Every year, there are new restrictions,' complains Gaurav Katyal (31), proprietor, Ebowla, Sector 30. After new restrictions kicked in earlier this month, Gurgaon's BYOB joints like Ebowla – once thriving hubs for live performances and hotspots to have alcohol at prices that are not marked up — have become shadows of their former selves.
Referred colloquially as 'ahatas' and as 'taverns' in the excise policy, these joints have been restricted from hosting live events and musical performances. In the new Haryana excise policy, which came into effect on June 12, the licensing fee has also been increased, and the joints cannot expand beyond one floor — they have to operate within a 1,000 square metre area.
Not just Katyal, many proprietors across the city are upset. Ebowla, he says, had to reduce its operational area by half, shut down its first floor, and pay Rs 1.8 crore as a licence fee to operate its BYOB unit. For its adjoining liquor store, it had to pay Rs 45 crore as license fees for 21.5 months. Its stage, including a space for the DJ, is now defunct.
'We would recover a significant amount of the hefty liquor store license fees through BYOBs. We would have (local) celebrities and dancers perform here to draw crowds. That's no longer the case. With the rise in expenses, our planned expansions in the city are on hold,' Katyal adds.
According to him, new players would now be apprehensive of entering the sector. 'Even we are only in this business because we have a reputation of being solid players in this space. Varna ab kya rakha hain? (Otherwise, what is left now?),' he asks.
The scene is no different for such joints at Golf Course Extension Road. 'Fifty workers at my joint lost their jobs, and their families are now suffering. If I cannot have music and you're increasing taxes, who will come anymore to even my joint?' says an owner on condition of anonymity.
The state government, he adds, has ignored the middle segment of consumers. 'Can everyone afford to go to bars and restaurants to drink, with their marked-up prices? Ultimately, it will cause losses to the government in terms of revenue,' he says.
Notices from the Excise Department on unpaid dues and pending rent under the previous policy have been pasted at the premises of several joints — Machan in Sector 29, Dakotta in Sector 32, and Where Else in Sector 59. 'We have been closed since June 11. Things are uncertain. Ab license renew hone ka koi aasha bhi nahi hain (now there is little hope of securing a new license),' says a staff member at Where Else.
Dakotta, too, has been closed for now.
Amit Bhatia, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner (DETC), Gurugram East, tells The Indian Express that it is common for time to be taken for the renewal of licences and agreements between policies. 'The agreements between the liquor store operators and proprietors of taverns take time. Some initial losses and a drop in business with any rise in taxes is natural. Projected excise collections are on course, it is still early days to look too far ahead,' Bhatia says.
Jitender Dudi, DETC for Gurugram West, says a clearer picture of the revenue impact can be known only once the auctions for vends in the 37 zones remaining are complete. 'These places were unregulated. We had got representations from restaurant associations about their business being impacted,' he says.