Esplanade, S Kol restos play tug of war with Park Street
Times of India | 26 December 2025
Kolkata: Christmas evening footfall spilled over to central and south Kolkata restaurants and bars, dispersing the festive dining crowds far and wide. Even as Park Street, the epicentre of celebrations, was shut to vehicular traffic at 5:40 pm on Thursday, the city's party street continued to be the most sought-after visiting spot.
Park Street also turned out to be the most crowded in several years on Thursday evening. However, traffic closure also led many revellers to venture to other locations for the evening. Footfall was 15% to 20% higher than last year's, said Hotel and Restaurants' Association of Eastern India (HRAEI) president, Sudesh Poddar. "With most restaurants open till 2 am, revellers continued to stream in till well past midnight on both Wednesday and Thursday.
At Songhai, Manthan, and MS Bar and Lounge, we had live music followed by a DJ session that lasted till 1 am. We had a full house till 2 am on Thursday and expect a repeat till the wee hours of Friday," said Poddar, who is the owner of these outlets. For some restaurants on Park Street, though, the road closure spoiled the party to some extent.
"The road closure was a huge dampener since Christmas Eve. Park Street was closed for cars at the crucial period around 9 pm. All the barricades made it hard for pedestrians to cross the road and reach the restaurants. Given that the previous few days' footfall soared, it was surprisingly the lowest during Christmas Eve. We hope normal traffic is allowed," said Anand Puri of Trincas. "The footfalls were high on Christmas evening, but people spent less time at the table and ordered less after traffic was stopped on Park Street," said a manager of a Park Street restobar. Mocambo, Peter Cat, and Peter Hu, however, were not impacted by the traffic restriction on Park Street, said owner Nitin Kothari. But restaurants at shopping malls benefitted. "Footfalls were better than most years. We expect a higher footfall on Christmas night (Thursday)," said Anjan Chatterjee, founder and chairman of Specialty Restaurants that own several chains including Mezzuna, Hoppipola, Mainland China, Oh! Calcutta, and Flame & Grill.
In south Kolkata, outlets of Oudh 1590 saw a crowd swell since early afternoon.
"All Oudh outlets remained full from lunchtime till 11:30 pm and had a huge crowd waiting for their turn. At Chapter 2, we had a full house till 2 am on Thursday and expect the same on Christmas night," said owner and co-founder, Shiladitya Chaudhury. Newly-inaugurated Chaudhury & Company, a Bengali cuisine restaurant at Deshapriya Park, remained fully occupied on Christmas evening.