Darjeeling, Dec. 10 -- This Christmas, revellers and tourists will be left without spirits and live music at the iconic Glenary's restaurant in Darjeeling. The restaurant which opened during the days of the Raj is synonymous with Yuletide. An order from the Collector of Excise has resulted in the suspension of licences of Glenary's Restaurant-cum-Bar for a period of 90 days from date of receipt of the order (December 8).
"However, other operations of Glenary's-restaurant, bakery, eatery etc will function normally," added the order. The owner of the restaurant has labelled the move as 'politically motivated' while the excise department has flagged several anomalies.
"My legal team is moving a writ petition in the Calcutta High Court to get a stay on the order," stated Ajoy Edwards, proprietor of Glenary's, while talking to
Millennium Post. Edwards who is also the chief convenor of the Indian Gorkha Janshakti Front (IGJF) has questioned the timing of the raid and stated that it has political connotations. On December 7, Edwards had inaugurated the "Gorkhaland Bridge". The 140-feet bridge connecting Tungsung tea estate and Dhotreh was built through community participation of 16 local welfare organisations through 'Shram daan' voluntary labour, sans government funds. Edwards had provided for the iron rods and cement. Edwards alleged that the action was owing to the Gorkhaland Bridge.
The order banning the serving of alcohol in this restaurant has caused ripples, especially among the tourists. Over the years, the restaurant has emerged as a tourist attraction of the town with the famous selfie point with the word "HOPE" in the background. The social media was also abuzz with comments with reports of the ban. Some even wrote that they would cancel their Darjeeling trip with Glenary's having no live music and without alcohol.
The authorities have waved the allegations of the ban being politically motivated as baseless and stated that a series of violations were detected during an inspection conducted on October 30-31. The suspension order followed a hearing in a miscellaneous case initiated on November 14. The suspension order was issued by the Additional District Magistrate (General) and Collector of Excise, Darjeeling, imposed under Section 42 of the Bengal Excise Act, 1909.
The inspection team found five major irregularities. These included: non-maintenance and non-attestation of accurate accounts; hosting live band and musical performances without the mandatory written approval of the Collector; storage of foreign liquor at an unauthorised location; excess and shortage of alcoholic stock at an unauthorised site connected to the licensed premises; and structural alterations to the premises without approval of the Collector. During the hearing on December 4, the licensee had admitted that live performances were being held at both the main bar and the Buzz bar without permission and that the practice continued even after case proceedings began, states the order. The Excise Collector noted that the violations were grave and persistent non-compliance. "I have written permissions for the previous years, including 2024-2025. Though I applied for permission for a live band with the Superintendent of Police, Darjeeling for 2025-2026, I received no reply. Neither yes nor a no. Under these conditions what do I do?" questioned Edwards.
In 2008 during an agitation launched by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in 2008, the iconic eatery was thoroughly vandalised and had to down shutters for more than a year.
The confectionery started in the early 1910's first went under the name of Vado- after an Italian family, the owners. Vado tied up with his friend Adolph Pliva, an Austro-Hungarian and the confectionery with a restaurant (which started a few years after the confectionery) was called the "Vado-Plivas". Later, the Vado family returned back to Italy and the eatery came to be known as Plivas.
After the Pliva family left for England, AT Edwards, who was a manager of the confectionery and restaurant bought the property and rechristened it "Glenary's", after the name of the Building it was housed in.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.