Team Mangalorean

Mangalore: The bar and restaurant (B and R) business, and also at some favorite pubs in the coastal city of Mangalore has been drastically hit, following the recent attack by Hindu activists on young revellers at a birthday party. According to some owners of the B & R sector, they have witnessed a similar kind of business crisis after the attack on a pub on Balmatta Road by some activists in 2009.

The city does not have any exclusive discotheques like Bangalore or Goa, where parties go on till wee hours, but there are few good B and R, which serve liquor, varieties of cuisines and play vivid western music. Youths hang out in these places to sway for music played in these joints.

According to the owner of a B and R chain, that ever since July 28th incident, 40% of the business had come down as people were scared to visit B and R. Business had declined after the attack on a pub in 2009 and it took one year for business to get back to being normal. But this time business is likely to pick up within a few months as people have condemned the unpleasant act strongly, he added."Is it a man's world? Don't women have any right to involve in social occasions?" has commented this owner.

According to Joseph, a employee at a trendy pub and music joint in Valencia, " Business has been OK, but could have been much better. There is a slight decline in the clients, but business is picking up slowly. What happened at 'Home Stay' is senseless, the incident has created some fear in the wine-n-dine folks who usually spend their social evenings by going out to.....!"

Yet another manager at a pub in the City, who doesn't want to reveal his name says, " Although ours is a pub, it doesn't mean that youth and adults just  come in here only to drink and get drunk, that's a wrong impression that the community has. We serve good cuisine, from Coastal, continental and Chinese, so youngsters come and dine here. Many of them don't even consume alcohol, they just order food and soft drinks. These days I am really missing some of our regulars, decent and respected young crowd"

The owner of another popular pub and eatery joint, who did not want to disclose his name, has said business has drastically declined to 50-60%. People are scared, especially women, because the entire City, nation and beyond has seen victims taken in a police van while culprits are seen roaming freely after the incident. When will these goons learn how to behave? What are they accomplishing by their acts, anyhow? Mangaloreans should stand up and fight against all these attacks on innocent people.