A promotional food offer at a famous pub in Bengaluru’s Hebbal area turned chaotic on Wednesday after an announcement that any dish would be available for just Rs 30 to mark the venue’s third anniversary. The offer, widely promoted across social media platforms, attracted an overwhelming response, leading to massive crowding, traffic congestion and police intervention, as per a report by The Times of India.
According to the TOI, the pub, which has a seating capacity of around 300 people, witnessed nearly 1,000 customers arriving over the course of the day. Long queues spilled onto the streets as the swelling crowd became difficult for the staff to handle. As pressure mounted and safety became a concern, the management was forced to shut down before 4 pm, hours earlier than planned.
The sudden increase in vehicles resulted in severe traffic jams during the peak hours on surrounding roads, including the busy Hebbal Flyover and the stretch near Esteem Mall. Several commuters found themselves stuck as traffic slowed to a crawl.
Visitors were left frustrated as the offer had ended early
Many customers were left disappointed because of poor crowd management and a lack of communication, as reported by Navbharat Times. A 35-year-old woman, who had planned the outing with her family of seven, stated that they started from Basaveshwaranagar around 6:30 pm. She was not aware that the offer had already ended at 4 pm. After being caught in the traffic near the flyover and reaching the pub around 7:30 pm, they were sent away, leaving the children hungry and upset.
Another 27-year-old man, who arrived with three friends at 11:30 am, stated that the queues had already formed even before the pub opened at noon. He described a confusing system of multiple queues, one inside and another one stretching on the road. An announcement was reportedly made around 1 pm that the offer had ended, but people continued to arrive. After a long wait, the group finally got a table at 3 pm, placed their order thirty minutes later and left at 5:45 pm, terming the overall experience as exhausting.
Pub staff admitted that they did not expect such a massive response. What was initially planned as an all-day offer was stopped due to security concerns once the number of visitors surpassed 1,000.
Police deployed to restore order in Hebbal
Police received several complaints around 8:30 pm related to traffic and heated arguments at the venue. Officers were deployed to disperse the crowd and restore order.
Initially, the protesters refused to leave the site and shouted slogans against the pub management, as reported by Navbharat Times. Eventually police ordered the venue to pull down its shutters until the situation was normalised.
In due course, traffic was cleared and the crowd dispersed under the police supervision.