MG Road set to lose its ‘Shrungar’ this January

BENGALURU: The landscape of one of Bengaluru’s most popular roads is set to change. Come January and MG Road will lose Shrungar Shopping Complex, home to several stores and landmark restaurants such as Queen’s and Bookworm.
The complex that stood tall for 48 years will soon feature on the list of the city’s iconic structures that have become history.While the EGK building made way for Joyalukkas, old theatres like Blue Moon and Plaza lost out to changing times.
On Thursday, tenants at Shrungar Complex were issued the high court ruling, passed a few weeks ago, ordering them to vacate by January 31. Only three units — two restaurants and a photocopy store — of the 60-plus outlets functioning out of the complex have been given time till June 30.
The high court order has ended a 17-year-long legal battle. "We have exhausted all our options and won’t be pursuing the case any further," said a tenant, who didn’t want to be named. According to him, a private firm — DNL Enterprises — entered into a 32-year contract with the land owners in 1968 and constructed the complex. DNL had leased out the land and rent from the 64 sites at the complex went to the firm.
"The lease ended in 2000, but DNL managed to get a 10-year extension. In 2013, a judgment favouring the owner forced DNL’s exit. Soon after, all the tenants got together and pursued the case. Three of the tenants — two restaurants and one photocopy shop — took the case to Supreme Court, where they were granted an extension till June. Soon after, the high court ruled in the owner’s favour, and said barring those three tenants, the rest of us have to vacate the premises by January 31," said another tenant.
While some of the original tenants still continue to run their business from the complex, many others have sub-rented the space. Fayaz Ahmed, who runs Nobles Art Expositions with his son Zubair, said: "The original tenants had been paying DNL a nominal monthly rent of Rs 2,700-Rs 3,700. However, since we are renting this shop from one of them, we are paying them Rs 65,000 a month. Since DNL’s exit, none of the original tenants have been paying any rent," Zubair said.
According to B Hemaraju, who worked with DNL Enterprises as an accountant, the company shut down in 2014 after losing the legal battle.
Krishna, who runs Bookworm, a haunt for bibliophiles, shifted his business to another address on Church Street a year ago, but kept a small store running out of Shrungar Complex. "We moved out a year ago as we knew the order to vacate would come any time. For now, all the books from our smaller store will be stocked in our shop and we’ll see where to go from there," he said. Bookworm opened at Shrungar Complex in 2003.
Queen’s Restaurant
From members of the Indian cricket team to office-goers and families, for 43 years, the iconic Queen’s Restaurant served food to people from all walks of life. Now, with the complex shutting, the restaurant, started in 1974 by Sonaleem Chodha, will down shutters early next year.
Chodha, who moved to Bengaluru in 1971, has been running the restaurant with her husband. While admitting that any new location would mean paying substantially higher rent, the couple feels the time is right for them to shift closer to their home near Sanjaynagar.
“This hasn’t come as a surprise as the case was going on for long. Considering our age, we think it’d be better to shift our restaurant closer home. Several of our customers have told us that they want the restaurant to reopen. Many are considering shifting to Brigade Gardens, but they aren’t accepting restaurant applications. We have no regrets and had a good journey,” said Sonaleem.
Nobles Art Expositions
Faiyaz Ahmed, 54, and his son Zubair, 26, who run Nobles Art Expositions that sells Kashmiri handicrafts, jewellery and carpets, say they have no other arrangement as of now, largely because of exorbitant rents.
“Everything is in god’s hands,” said Faiyaz. “This shop is our base. Because of our success here, we were able to open stores in Hong Kong and New Delhi. We are thinking of moving to Commercial Street or MG Road. If that doesn’t happen, we’ll return to Delhi. There’s more demand for Pashminas there,” added Zubair.