And drinking cheap

If you've had a row with your boss or got a poor increment and don't want to reach home in a foul mood, how about pepping yourself up at TGI Friday's, Turquoise Cottage, Agni or Geoffery's if you are in Delhi.

You can probably justify your poor raise by buying a drink free along with the one you paid for. Yes, happy hours at different pubs across the country are proving to be good hangouts between home and office. Besides, they offer you good value for money.

Tahish Baig, a 26-year old BPO executive at Gurgaon-based vCustomer loves to frequent New Friends Colony's pub Nothing Authentic during happy hours.

Having recently been initiated into social drinking, and with a beginner's salary, happy hours are the best thing that ever happened to him. "The music is unmatchable here and the crowd is cool," he says. 
 

The Variations
Pub	Timings	High Points
TGI Friday's	5.00-7.45	Good cocktails (especially Bloody Mary)
Turquoise Cottage	7.30-9.30	Special nights across professions
Agni	5.30-9.30	50% off for corporate clients
Dublin	6.30-8.00	Free drinks for in-house quests
Geoffery's	4.00-6.45	Upto 50% off on beverages
Starters n More	6.00-9.30	Affordable drinks and starters

Smita Chowdhury, a compulsive pub hopper working with NIIT, also makes the best of happy hours. "I have no issues with starting to drink as early as 6 pm as long as I can order a buy-one-get-one-free drink," she says.

Even Baig's colleague Madhuri Dhiman, who is not a drinker, is happy with her free glass of Coke along with the one she has paid for and the kick she gets visiting the pub.

With customers like Tahish, Madhuri and Smita, pubs across the country, especially in large cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, are doing roaring business.

For instance, Turquoise Cottage in south Delhi is doing better business during happy hours between 12.30-3.30 pm and 7.30-9.30 pm than regular timings. Particularly, there is a 75-80 per cent increase infootfalls on Wednesdays as compared to other days.

"We have special happy hours for media people (journalists, PR and advertising executives) on Wednesday which goes on till closing. It is an extremely popular night with good music, food and buy-one-get-one-free offers on booze," says Rajesh Saxena, general manager, Turquoise Cottage.

Also, Turquoise Cottage's happy hours extend until 9.30 pm, which gives those working late a time cushion. However, some, like # (Hash) in Delhi's Vasant Vihar, like to stop their happy hours at 8 pm.

"But that's okay with me. Even if I reach by 7 pm, I can order six glasses of three different varieties of cocktail (one-for-one)," says Jayendra Shukla, a copyeditor with an ad agency.

The location of the pub offering happy hours is also a large factor. For instance, in Mumbai, there are places like TGIF, Rasna, Starters n More and Cafe Mondegar in town, and Club 9 and Hawaiian Shack in the western suburbs, which are buzzing with all kinds of happy hours offers.

"But Starters n More is where I like to frequent because it is conveniently located at Churchgate so after drinking I head straight to the local train to take me home," says Kinjal Solanky, a senior executive in the insurance sector.

There are still others who would like use the happy hours concept but not at the cost of the quality of drink. Meghna Ray, a research student, prefers TGIF at Vasant Vihar.

"Their cocktails, especially the Margarita, Black Russian and Bloody Mary are excellent. I love the large Bloody Mary which is flavoured with pepper "" of course one-for-one during happy hours."

Companies also make use of happy hours by tying up with pubs to celebrate their employees' birthdays and have promotion parties. And after happy hours, pubs offer other deals for them, for example a 20 per cent discount on drinks for company executives.

Pub-wallahs, however, are getting conscious about the rowdiness sometimes created over free drinks. While some places allow one person to book a large table and order several happy hours drinks, some, like Turquoise Cottage, observe discipline. "We allow a one-for-one drink only to people who have already arrived," says Saxena.

Yet, there are some who prefer to retain their exclusivity and snob value, over large crowds during happy hour. The capital's most happening pub, Agni, has a customised model of happy hours between 5.30-9.30pm.

"We offer a 50 per cent discount to corporate executives working within a 1 km radius. We also have a list of corporate clients who are eligible for the 50 per cent discount during these hours after showing their visiting cards," says bar manager Vaibhav Singh.

The pub has not gone in for the happy hours concept across the board because it wanted to screen the crowd. "We are located in Connaught Place and we don't want anybody strolling at Jantar Mantar to drop by just for a bottle of beer."

And to join Agni is Maurya's chic pub, Dublin. It has happy hours but not for everyone.

"We have happy hours between 6.30-8.00 pm where booze is absolutely free. But, again, this is only for Maurya's in-house guests. Athena, another upmarket pub in south Delhi, also claims it has no intentions to introduce happy hours as it is catering to a market segment which will not really bother about happy or unhappy hours as long as the guests enjoy being at Athena.

Industry analysts say pubs that offer happy hours have to constantly revamp themselves to inject newness.

"Just having good deals doesn't help these places to sizzle. Ambience, music, location etc are all very important," says one analyst. So, while pubs undergo an overhaul, get ready for a new experience in a new bar, but with the same deal"" buy one get one free.