RAISING THE BAR

Do you want to offer guests a signature cocktail and show off your mixology skills on your next get-together? Set up a home bar and up your game 

- BY SMITA TRIPATHI

A free-standing bar with bar stools in front is a great place to entertain guests. Get behind the bar and fix up some mean cocktails even as you have conversations across the bar. While the minimum space required is one metre to accommodate at least two stools, you should ideally have a 6 ft to 8 ft-long bar

When shweta and ajay prasad were renovating their south Delhi home, just before the pandemic, they decided to convert a part of their hall into a bar. “A home bar. A place where I could entertain my guests as well as have date nights,” says 42-year-old Shweta, a senior marketing executive with a leading multinational. A few months later, the pandemic hit, along with the resultant lockdowns. “Bars didn’t open for several months post the lockdown. We really enjoyed our home bar. It turned out to be one of the best decisions we have taken,” she smiles.

The Prasads are not alone. Indians have traditionally always liked to entertain at home and, having a proper bar, as compared to a few alcohol bottles in a cupboard, just adds to the charm of it. Delhi-based SpeedX Bars which sells ready-made bars has seen business increase 10x in the past two and a half years. “We were selling 30 units a month in mid 2020, and are now selling 300 units a month,” says Co-founder Anirudh Singhal. SpeedX has 14 models and the average price is `50,000. The brand is available online on its own website as well as through Tata CliQ, Pepperfry and Amazon. Singhal says that buying a bar has now become an impulsive decision. “We get queries from customers if the bar can be delivered within 24 hours as they suddenly decided to host a party and it would be great for them to have a bar.” Singhal is in the process of tying up with Amazon for its 24-hour Prime delivery.