No sea of heads? Park Street cops stunned as New Year’s Eve sees unusually thin crowd
Telegraph | 1 January 2026
Park Street was surprisingly visible around 8pm on New Year’s Eve, a contrast to the usual sea of heads at this hour.
It was difficult to tell whether it was the chill— the mercury read 15° Celsius — or the crowd-aversion that kept people away from the stretch.
Several police officers said around 9pm that they were “surprised” to see such a quiet Park Street on New Year’s Eve. On Christmas evening, the road had turned into a “walking street” around 5.40pm with the roads and pavements flooded with pedestrians.
On Wednesday, however, vehicles plied as they would on a regular Wednesday.
“There is no crowd on the road at all. Usually by this time, the road is too crowded even to walk,” said an officer deployed on Park Street around 8.30pm.
Compared to other New Year’s Eves, queues outside restaurants and pubs also appeared smaller, though the real picture would emerge only the following morning.
“We had dinner at Peter Cat. It was crowded but not like I had feared,” said a resident of Ultadanga who was there with his wife.
Many visitors said the chill did not deter them from soaking in the festive atmosphere. “Even at 11°, we didn’t want to miss Park Street. The cold only adds to the charm, and ending the evening with dinner at Trincas made it special,” said Sagnik Ghosh, 60, with his wife Alphana, 58.
Dipak Pawar, an armyman who lives in Fort William, found the weather “just fit” to take a stroll with his eight-month-old daughter.
“This is my daughter’s first visit to Park Street, and the weather is just fine. I am glad the crowd is thinner; otherwise, it would have been difficult to manage her,” he said.
Ankita Das, a school teacher from Rashbehari Avenue, also appreciated the quieter streets. “At least we did not have to stand in the queue just to enter Park Street,” she said.
Till about 8.30pm, the number of uniformed and plainclothes policemen appeared higher than the pedestrians they were monitoring.
More than 5,000 officers had been deployed, with watchtowers and drones engaged to keep track of crowd movement.