Kochi: A five-year-old child, a loan consultant, and a kitty-party participant walk into a bar—except it’s not a joke. It’s standard fare in Kochi’s Velocity.
Kochi now has a happening new nightlife. But conditions apply. Families bring children, bars shut early and food reigns supreme. A child sleeps soundly. A man with long hair and a pierced nose chats with the woman next to him. Conversation is an effort—everyone strains to hear over the rhythmic thumps of house music which later turns into a remixed ‘happy birthday’. Only the sleeping child is unfazed.
There’s Velocity, Mezzo, Watson’s, Booyah, Hortus—bars that cater to the city’s post pandemic influx of party-goers and nightlife enthusiasts. They’re typically local residents who have discovered the joy of unwinding with a cocktail in hand, or dancing to whatever music is on offer. They enter by about 8pm, and by 9, the place is buzzing. However, instead of reaching a crescendo, it comes to a screeching halt. Bars in Kochi cannot stay open past 11pm. No one seems to mind.
“This is the new Kochi. Our nightlife has been brought back,” says a product designer at Velocity, one of the bar’s many regular customers.
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Dedicated to the aesthetic
Velocity, on Marine Drive, is the nucleus of Kochi’s version of a thriving nightlife. It’s a Wednesday night, and the bar is reasonably packed—most tables are full. There’s an eclectic mix of patrons, which is not out of the ordinary for a bar, but the variance in age is stark. A dimly lit bar is usually adult territory. But not in Kochi, where every night is for the family. Children eat dinner, and their parents party next to them.
That’s why Jerry John, who opened Velocity two years ago, knew he couldn’t focus on the drinks alone. As opposed to other bars, where food is functional and only an appendage to alcohol, a large part of Velocity’s appeal is the food. It’s an extensive menu, and they have the usual fare of beef fry and coconut curries —but Jerry insists that you look no further than chicken malai tikka. It’s their most popular appetiser.
“I have the best of the best chefs. All of them have worked at five star properties like Hyatt and Crowne Plaza,” says John.
Apart from the food, he’s dedicated to the aesthetic. The walls are covered with film posters, ranging from iconic gangster film Goodfellas to Spiderman. There’s a dizzying array of spirits on display. Velocity is no neighbourhood watering hole, or seedy dive-bar —deliberately so.
“The decor plays an important role. It’s all about the vibe. You can spend crores and build a bar. But if you don’t have that vibe, none of it matters,” he says. “I love to party. I wanted to create a place that I wanted to go to.”
The food and decor are parts of a whole, pieces of a puzzle that supposedly encompass a new city. One which has a potent, perfect mix of migrants and local people; where alcohol and affluence flow freely.
According to John, their pricing is “mid-range”. “A lot of people have told me how good the pricing is,” he says. However, by some standards, the drinks are still steep—a cocktail costs about Rs 500. “It’s not super affordable. But we do have a mixed crowd,” he says.
It’s a testament to an upward swing in spending habits, the desire to engage in an experience—not just sip a beverage. Everyone doesn’t have sky-high salaries, but they still want to be seen having a good time. They’ll have one drink, an appetiser maybe. But at least they were there. By virtue of which, Velocity isn’t catering to a homogeneous crowd.
However, crowd control is important. “If you don’t have a good crowd, it’s not going to work,” he says.
The manager outside the door meticulously takes down phone numbers, checks IDs, tracks who is entering. Even on a Wednesday night, people are clamouring to enter. He just stopped a couple of 20 year olds from entering, who were below the state’s legal drinking age of 23.
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Post-Covid gold rush
Mohan comes to Velocity a couple of times a month. He’s a loan consultant at Standard Chartered, and is in his fifties. It’s where birthdays are celebrated, where he comes for a night out with the family. If there’s a DJ spinning afro-beats, he’ll be there then too. “Jerry has pioneered nightlife in our city,” says Mohan, patting him on the back.
It’s only in the 2000s that Kochi got a discotheque, Tandav, in Le Meridien. It was in a 5 star hotel, and was far from laid back. It’s now closed. In the 1990s, there were New Year parties at the Yacht Club, a members’ only heritage club. Lounge City, another bar, was “ahead of its time”, and subsequently closed down.
Then, after Covid the gold-rush began. Now, at Velocity, apart from his regular DJ, John also ensures he gets popular DJs from bigger cities. Kay-Vee, an afro-house DJ from Hyderabad whose gigs are usually spread between his hometown and Goa, is due to play at Velocity. It’s no small event, and he expects the place to be packed. Mohan will probably be there too.
It’s a far-cry from the days when they bought bottles from government-owned liquor stores, and had no option but to drink at their friends’ homes. There’s no nostalgia, even though it was a cheaper alternative.
“After covid there’s a big change. Before that, there wasn’t much. In those two years, people got so fed up with sitting at home. They were bored. The culture of going out is booming. The restaurant industry itself is booming,” says John. He first opened a watered-down Velocity in 2006, with a paltry 32 seats. Post-pandemic, it came of age.
His only qualm is the 11pm deadline. “They should extend it till 1-130am. At least on the weekends.” It’s a loss to his business.
About 1.5 kilometres away at Watson’s, a number of people, ranging from their mid 20s to 40s are dancing to standard club fare as if it’s going out of fashion. It’s teeming with people, and there’s no space to enter even though it’s a weekday.
Between Watson’s originally a Bengaluru pub, Velocity, and Mezzo, bar hopping in Kochi is finally a possibility.
It’s a trend that could soon expand beyond the hubbub of Kochi. John’s already taken Velocity to his hometown of Kannur—bringing nightlife back across Kerala.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)