31st early-evening lull helps boost biz at Park St restos
Times of India | 2 January 2025
12 Kolkata: A sparsely populated Park Street was the biggest surprise of New Year's Eve, much to the delight of restaurants on the city's party street and central Kolkata, which drew crowds until the early hours of Jan 1. Restaurants in south Kolkata also saw high footfall, which helped keep the crowd relatively small at Park Street until 11 pm.
Rather than a concentration of diners at Park Street, there was a dispersal of revellers across the city that changed the trend, said Hotel and Restaurants' Association of Eastern India (HRAEI) president Sudesh Poddar.New Year Special30+ New Year 2025 wishes, quotes to share with your loved onesUnbelievable! 2025's most powerful zodiac predictions are hereNumerology 1-9: What the numbers hold for us next year"Families out for a late evening dinner found it easier on New Year's Eve to walk into a restaurant on Park Street since the road was not swarmed by revellers until 11 pm. We also reaped the benefit since traffic was better, and many more could visit our restaurants and stay until past midnight," said Poddar, who owns Songhai, MS Bar & Lounge, and Manthan.
Mocambo and Peter Cat remained packed until 2.45 am on Jan 1. "We had a continuous flow of customers from noon on Dec 31 until almost 2 am on Wednesday. The crowd lingered until 3 am. It was easier for families to walk in since the street was less crowded until shortly before midnight," said owner Nitin Kothari.
Cops managed the crowd well, allowing free access to restaurants, said Pratap Daryanani, owner of Oasis. "They didn't allow revellers to block pavements. Even when the crowd built up on the road, the police used barricades to fence off the pavements, allowing people to walk into restaurants quicker. We were packed until 2 am," said Daryanani.
Chapter 2 on Southern Avenue had a musical evening with a specially curated New Year's Eve menu, including duck roast and turkey roast. "Many now prefer to avoid Park Street due to the crowd, which has led to a distribution of revellers, particularly families," said co-founder and owner Shiladitya Chaudhury.
WhatsUp Café was fully occupied until 3 am on Jan 1. Outlets of Mezzuna, Mainland China, Oh! Calcutta, and Riyasat at malls also had good footfall until 1 am, though it was lower than last year's, according to Anjan Chatterjee, owner of Speciality Restaurants that owns the outlets.
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