31 July,2009 09:41 AM IST | | Bhairavi Jhaveri
If it's not the cops, it's the soaring rent rates and stubborn landlords that are the new killjoy of the city's once-rocking clubbing scene. As Colaba's Henry Tham closes its doors to its nocturnal fan base, Bandra's popular club Poison draws down the shutters once again, this month. Dragonfly and Magic also exit from the partying radar. FYI finds out what's really eating into Mumbai's nightlife
Each time a new nightspot crops up in the city, besides gauging what new frills it has to offer, you wonder if it will garner enough clout to stick around long enough to be called home. The affinity that most city revelers have developed over time with a few nightspots The Ghetto, former nightclub Fire 'n' Ice and more recently Colaba's lounge bar Henry Tham seems indispensable at this point. With old favourites shutting shop, and new places not withstanding market volatility and needs, will the neighbourhood bar be a familial place ever again?u00a0
Most landlords want to lease out to MNCs, not nightclubs
As Poison celebrates its last month at the sprawling basement zone of its Bandra location, with hopes to relocate soon, Henry Tham owners are also on a lookout to reopen at a new buzzing property. Lease renewal issues gripped the owners of both nightclubs and forced them to wrap up. "By end August, we will know where we will relocate to," affirms Dilip Joshi, Director, Poison and Bling nightclubs.
Vibhoo Mehra, CEO, Mumbai Properties, a real estate consultancy, who is currently helping a few club owners clinch good deals, says this was inevitable. "While renewing contracts, landlords have become unreasonable.
They don't compromise and there is no way to come to terms with them except by paying up what they demand," says Mehra. Most landlords today prefer leasing out the plot to a MNC or a bank, to avoid coping with noise, deadline issues, cops, liquor stench, unruly crowd, and the other stigmas surrounding nightclubs. "Hence, commercial districts like Lower Parel are becoming the safest option to venture into," he tells us. The only solution, according to him, is to get into a joint venture with the landlord, with a minimum guarantee of 50% to 60% of running rent rate and give him a percentage of the total profits.
Plush Dragonfly shut in 6 months to banquet out for parties
With rent rates soaring to Rs 450 per sq. ft. per month in the commercial Nariman Point, Dragonfly owners could have been dishing out as much as Rs 2 to Rs 3 lakh a month just as rent for that 5,000 sq. ft. space they
purchased last July. At least 500 partygoers needed to be present on a Saturday night to fill up that space.
This was naturally turning into a challenge. "And hence we decided to concentrate on letting the space out for parties and shoots.u00a0 With this new format, we are getting as many as 5 functions a week," admits Aashiyana Shroff, owner of Dragonfly-Vongwong restaurant and nightclub.
While Vongwong continues to function as a restaurant, Dragonfly is being used for parties, conferences, and film shoots where everything, from catering to music, is provided by the Vongwong team.
Even the guys behind Mumbai's once- rocking club, say it's toughu00a0 to sustain
Chairman of former nightclub Fire 'n' Ice, Ketan Kadam and his team opened Magic at Worli in May 2008. The owners, who had seen 5 glorious years (1999 to 2004) at Fire 'n' Ice, an iconic club that changed the way Mumbai partied, opened Magic to cater to a 30+ crowd. But a week into the opening, they encountered an unforeseen problem the club shared a wall with a residential premise and the sound travelled into the neighbours' homes. "We spent a lot on sound-proofing, but it didn't help. So now we rent out the space for family banquets that require low decibel music," says Kadam. Even if this wasn't the case, Kadam doesn't think a Fire 'n' Ice can happen again. "That kind of space is difficult to get today; rents are soaring. You can't afford to lose space to a dance floor today. Anything that can generate money like booths and bars are created instead. A dance floor can't generate money. And it's definitely not easy to recover costs with a deadline of 1.30 am."
In Mumbai, is a nightclub a business model at all?
Nikhil Chib, Restaurateur/Owner, Busaba
We need a liquor license till 3 am, and a food license for 24 hours, like it is around the world. That's the only way the whole process of opening a nightspot is worth it. Getting a license requires you to visit 10 windows, BMC taxes are high, landlords are stubborn, and relocating just dilutes your
brand completely.
Dhruv Ghanekar, Partner, Blue Frog
Friendlier government regulations would help to boost nightlife and promote the city at an international level. The 1.30 am deadline is the biggest issue we face today, since nobody gets done with work before 10 pm.
Vikram Mehta, Event Manager
To combat high rent in SoBo, new restobar owners are turning to the suburbs. That's their only option. But moving to a new area requires immense changes. For instance, you have to tweak the concept to meet the demands of a new crowd. This may or may not be what the owner has in mind.
