Good times at bars and pubs are over

1,037 nightspots in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang and Johor closed shop between March and June alone

PETALING JAYA: For pub owners and drinkers alike, happy hours are over … for the long term, if not for good.

Establishments that served drinks solely have not been allowed to operate since the first movement control order (MCO 1.0) was imposed in March last year, leaving them no choice but to pull down the shutters for good.

Those that had survived a little longer were the resto-bars, where food is served together with beers, liquors and wines. They were allowed to stay open but not for long. Since the imposition of the third MCO (MCO 3.0) in June, none has been allowed to operate.

From March to June alone, a total of 1,037 entertainment centres such as pubs, nightclubs and bars in Kuala Lumpur,

Selangor, Penang and Johor have closed for good.

According to Klang Valley Pub, Nightclub and Bar Operators pro tem committee chairman Benny Bedi, the downturn in the entertainment business has had a significantly negative impact on more than 6,000 business owners.

One of them is Pauline De Costa, owner of the LV Empire bar in Subang. Mounting debts forced her to close down her pub in November last year.

“Rental was RM6,000 a month, and we were already four months behind. Our debt was mounting but we still could not operate because of the lockdown,” she told theSun.

She said the owner of the premises assured her of a reduction in rental but did not follow through.

De Costa had two of her four children help out at the pub and two foreign workers who run the bar and the kitchen. The children are now looking for jobs while her husband, who has a heart problem, is confined to a wheelchair.

The sole breadwinner in the family now sells Portuguese food and nasi lemak online to supplement her income.

D.J. Bobby, who owns two nightclubs on Changkat Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur has tried to keep his 38 workers on the payroll but has been reduced to giving them groceries on a monthly basis to partly make up for the reduction in their salaries.

Some of them have taken odd jobs elsewhere to make ends meet.

“As a result of the lockdown, we have not been able to open for business for months now,” he told theSun.

Bobby said he was given a discount on the rental for one of the premises but is still paying more than RM40,000 a month.

“Any savings that I had have been depleted. I have now resorted to borrowing from friends and contacts,” he said.

Bobby said he is reluctant to close down his two clubs because he had already invested RM2 million in the business. His hope is that the lockdown will be lifted soon so he can get back to business.

At Richfield Corner, a pub-cum-restaurant here, take-outs have become the mainstay of its business.

Managing director Allan Gunalan said he is already two months behind with his RM7,000a-month rent. “What I make from takeaways is just enough to cover the utility bills and a bit of the staff’s salaries,” he told theSun.

He had to let go of his part-time workers and retained only four full-timers but on reduced salaries.

“After the Covid-19 pandemic hit, people stopped coming and our sales and profits dropped. We are allowed to do only takeaways now, which are hardly enough to make a decent income,” he said.

Gunalan said he applied for an entertainment licence last year but has yet to pay for it. “We only have a restaurant licence and we have yet to hear from the authorities on our application for a liquor licence,” he said.

He agreed that even if the lockdown is lifted tomorrow, business is unlikely to pick up quickly. “People will still be afraid to come out to have a drink unless the number of cases drops significant and is sustained at a low level.”