Beaming through a tucked away corner of Brighton’s busy lanes, Permit Room is open and ready to welcome one and all. Not to be confused with the buzzy bars in our Dishoom cafés, this Permit Room is an outpost all of its own. An all-day bar-café, ready to welcome you from a hearty breakfast until our weekly guest DJs spin their last record of the night.
There is much to tell you about the delectations and dancing to be enjoyed there but first, allow us to share the rich history that inspired this new spot. Our story begins in 1949, two years after India gained Independence and the year the Bombay Prohibition Act was passed, banning all liquor in the city – initially even cough syrup. But Bombayites, ever the inventive and tenacious people that they are, found ways to enjoy a tipple or two.
Bootlegging bubbled in the backstreets and in the suburbs, enterprising Aunties secretly served drinks from their front rooms, often only a curtain as division from the rest of the house. Soon, these Aunty Bars became a fixture of the city, a boiled egg vendor stationed nearby as a sign for those in the know. Since raids were rife, drinking sessions were short – ten minutes was plenty to guzzle some moonshine or feni liquor.
By the 1970s the law was loosened up, and those wishing to partake of liquor for “the preservation or maintenance of health” were required to obtain a permit. Thus, permit rooms were born. At these small drinking spots tucked down side streets, men gathered around Formica tables on plastic chairs and steel benches, chatting over quarters of hard liquor, and sharing chakli and peanut masala.
