Geoffrey's Mumbai
IT is the general opinion among drinkers (serious and casual) that Geoffrey’s at the Marine Plaza on Bombay’s Marine Drive is the best bar in town. I will not dispute that. I drop in occasionally and find it sober and convivial, more like an English pub at Notting Hill Gate than a disco at Bandra. It is dark rosewood and stagecoach leather, brass rails to rest tired feet on and old sporting prints on the walls. And though it is five years old, it is filled with pub memorabilia probably collected from every pub in England, a happy jumble of a Charrington Toby, W. G. Grace in action, old muskets, a poster of His Master’s Voice, a cricket bat signed by the Australian team, brewery labels, and a display of VSOP Cognac, the next big liquor invasion coming to Bombay.

I normally sit at the bar, on tall bar-stools with back-rests, or stand around the bar, three drinkers deep. It is an island bar, very English, very pubby, the bar is the focal point of the operations, the heart of the pub. Several efficient bartenders are at work, doing several things at the same time, which is a characteristic of good bartenders all over the world.

Simultaneously, they pull beer pumps, mix drinks, shake a cocktail, serve peanuts from underneath the bar, distribute table mats, keep an eye on the tap to check the pint is not full and running over (it’s a full pint, 480 mlgs., not 300 mlgs, that you get in most places), collect money, take new orders, repeat old orders, remember who has ice, who has soda, send slips into the kitchen for bar food (pub grub), check the collar on the beer, take out fresh glasses from the top, swab the bar, clean the ash-trays, and, above all, try not to look busy.

It is difficult to say why some bars succeed, others do not. It is not like a restaurant, where, if the food is good, the tables are booked, if not, no. But liquor comes from the same manufacturers, whether it is India bottled scotch or Indian made foreign liquor. So what’s the reason for the success? I can tell you about Geoffrey’s. There is no loud music, no MTV, dancing is discouraged, there are four TVs in four corners, plus a wall TV, but the sound is off, the place is reasonably bright (not romantically dark), there is a mixed clientele that is soberly drunk, the liquor list is exhaustive, the food menu limited, and strictly pub grub, not the kind you sit down and mess around with knife and fork.

Over the years, Geoffrey’s has become a famous place and lives up to it’s image of a typical British pub. It is not surprising that the Sarovar Park Plaza, Anil Madhok’s Bombay-based hotel management group, which operates 20 hotels in India, should want to repeat the success of Geoffrey’s in Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. There are also plans to open a hotel in Goa, the Phoenix Park Inn, on the Candolim-Calangute stretch of beach. Naturally, Geoffrey’s will be the first English pub in Goa. Move over cashew feni, make way for draught beer!

GEOFFREY’S New Delhi
retains the heart and the soul of the original concept, while adapting to Delhi and to its location at the Ansal Plaza. Anil Madhok explains: “By virtue of the fact that a free-standing bar cannot display its bottles in New Delhi as a bar in a hotel can, we had to convert Geoffrey’s here into a restaurant. So what you have is a resto-bar. The food menu, the decor, are the same as Geoffrey’s in Bombay, Chennai and Bangalore, only the bottles cannot be seen.”

Ansal Plaza is a modern shopping complex that has become a most convenient shoppers’ paradise in the capital and attracts upto 35,000 visitors on busy days. Geoffrey’s caters as much to these shoppers as to the sundowners and evening diners and revellers. It has been designed by Sarabjit Singh, an interiors expert, so as to transport patrons to a country courtyard. Four state-of-art, computer-controlled lighting modes accent different times of day and night. Liberal use of stained glass windows and giant panels set the tone. The flooring alternates between timber beams and rustic flamed rough granite.

The artefacts, here, range from marine telescopes and old posters to advertisements and musical figures. The seating is for 90 people, a mix of conventional leather and timber chairs, with easy counter seating and a sprinkling of elevated stools around wood and brass tall boys. Geoffrey’s cuisine comes from around the globe — carefully selected Western, Thai, Chinese and Tandoori delicacies are presented in contemporary style. It is the place for a conversation and a meal, a celebration or just a good time out. The music heightens the experience and is not overpowering.

GEOFFREY'S Bangalore
In India’s famous Pub City, where Bangalore’s ‘Who’s Who’ meet up from early in the day over a pint of draught at their favourite watering holes, Geoffrey’s in the new, 155-room hotel, Royal Orchid Park Plaza, lives up to its image of a typical British pub. It beckons with its enviable collection of spirits and warm, comfortable atmosphere.

The bartenders take you through an entertainment act with juggling being a part of their repertoire. Geoffrey’s is an English pub that differs from the typical disco and bar in Bangalore in more than one way: its ambience.

Its cosy feeling is partly created by the rich wooden panelling with cubicle-like seating enclaves, old British paintings, artefacts brought specially from England, and music (mainly rock) of the 1970s which transcends the guests into a trance. A dance floor in this Geoffrey’s adds to the whole ambience.

It is designed as a typical pub but also serves lunch and dinner as well as an excellent selection of drinks and cocktails. Anil Madhok says of Geoffrey’s in Bangalore, “The cover of the menus are not the same, but the contents are.” He describes Geoffrey’s success in Pub City: “We tried to cater to the client that was fiercely loyal to his favourite pub because it offered not dark corners and loud music, but a pub-like ambience in warm and cosy setting.”

GEOFFREY'S Chennai
The Geoffrey’s in Chennai is housed in the Radha Park Inn, an already popular name among locals and especially with the corporate and business crowd. The hotel is managed and operated by Sarovar Park Plaza and owned by R. Srinivasan of Fairmont Hotels.

Chennai, until Geoffrey’s came along, only had bars and discotheques; now with this pub, there is the option of unwinding in a comfortable and friendly atmosphere. As also the option of eating and drinking or doing both, as their food and beverages menu offers variety.

Geoffrey’s in this city is a large pub spread over 3,000 square feet and putting up 100 covers. The ambience in addition to being British, is also American, and it is very contemporary, which gives the pub a modern and trendy look. Here again, artefacts have been imported from England.

Plus there are pool tables and a DJ playing music as a comfortable decibel. Anil Madhok said of Geoffrey’s in Chennai, “We wanted to open a place that people would get so used to, they wouldn’t shift loyalties overnight every time a new pub opened. That’s what we did with Geoffrey’s here.”