Happy Hours

Mumbai’s nightlife forms an integral part of the city’s culture and it was only a matter of time before the popular western concept got introduced here. The initiative is being taken by Bombay Elektrik Projekt (BEP) and bestofbombay.com,two independent city culture groups. While BEP is looking at Bandra as their stomping ground,bestofbomay’s bar crawl explores Colaba.

First introduced in Europe,bar crawls usually act as social gatherings for the local expat communities and tourists. And BEP too,is looking at a similar audience,says Sudeip Nair,founder-partner of BEP. “The city has a huge expat population and the tourist numbers rise as the city goes global with books and films that take Mumbai to the world. The bar crawl will help them know the city better as well as socialise.”

Aditi Shah,the founder-partner of bestofbombay,echoes Nair’s opinion. “When in a different city,one prefers to visit the places that locals frequent,” she says.

However,bestofbombay intends to cater to locals as much as to expats and tourists. “Pubs in Mumbai are in pockets. There’s Colaba,Lower Parel,Bandra,Andheri,Juhu and Malad. So Mumbaikars usually party at pockets closer to home. With our bar crawls,we hope to bring them out of their comfort zone to explore another part of Mumbai.”

Starting this Saturday,the bestofbombay bar crawl,a fortnightly affair,will host a group of 50 for a registration fee of Rs 500 per head. Their itinerary will include Bootleggers,Red Light,Busaba and Soul Fry Casa and the participants will travel from one destination to the other in an open-air bus. The evening will begin at 7.30 pm,with nearly 45 minutes spent at each pit stop where the guests will be served a complimentary welcome drink and other offers.

Interestingly,bestofbombay’s effort also has a social cause attached. In an initiative against drunken driving,they’ve brought on board Party Hard,the chauffer service. “Our bar crawls eliminate the risk of drunk driving. Besides,if someone is coming to Colaba in a car,we provide a Party Hard chauffer to take them back home.”

BEP,though yet to finalise their pub partners and the registration details,is looking at places with a cultural/ historical background. “Bandra has many such watering holes like Janata,Hawaiian Shack or Boat Club that’ve been around for years. Many youngsters have spent evenings there chilling with their friends,” says Nair.

BEP is looking at a bar crawl that’s a heady mix of heritage and alcohol. En route,from one pub to the other,the emcee will introduce the participants to interesting,lesser known facts and anecdotes about the watering hole and the neighbourhood. Explains Nair,“We wouldn’t want bar crawls to be a mundane affair if someone registers twice. Instead of following a template,we intend to have theme-based crawls based on the area we cover and the route we take. So we may tell you the origin of the names of the roads in Bandra on one bar crawl and on the other,we may point out the residences of the many Bollywood actors.”