Beer & wine will be pouring in UP without full bar licence

Café hoppers in select cities of Uttar Pradesh will soon have the option of ordering a beer or wine with their meal.

According to the new UP excise policy for 2025-26, low-alcohol bars — which serve only beer and wine — will pop up in Noida, Ghaziabad, Agra and Lucknow. The policy, which may introduce greater varieties to the state, will likely give Delhi residents an alternative to Gurugram, with Noida and Ghaziabad being the bordering cities.

Restaurant owners in these four cities can obtain licences for only ₹4 lakh, instead of ₹10 lakh to ₹15 lakh, which is taken from regular bar or pub owners that provide all kinds of alcoholic beverages.

“The policy is for all kinds of restaurants, including cafes as well as fine dining. The norms which will govern the implementation of this policy are yet to be released, which will be clear once the policy comes into effect from April 1. The tenure of this licence will be one year, just like other licences,” Subodh Kumar, GB Nagar excise officer told TOI.

As per food department data, there are a total of 1,040 restaurants in GB Nagar and 435 restaurants in Ghaziabad. The change in excise policy is expected to ease the financial and regulatory burdens on restaurants that previously needed a full bar licence to serve liquor, as it will now allow eateries to offer beer and wine without having to invest in a full-fledged bar setup.

The government has also for the first time introduced the concept of "Composite Shops", merging separate beer and foreign liquor outlets into a single unit (the two were hitherto sold separately). Announcing the new features of the excise policy at a press briefing in Lucknow, UP Excise Commissioner Adarsh Singh said, the state will now have three types of liquor vends — model shops, country liquor shops, and composite shops.

“The threshold for composite shops will not exceed the total number of beer shops and foreign liquor shops. This will be applicable in each district. We will not increase the number of shops in any case. It may decrease in some districts though,” Adarsh added.

Additionally, in order to boost tourism in the state, the government has directed the introduction of vineyards and microbreweries. The government has also mandated tetra packs for country liquor instead of earlier used glass bottles to enhance safety and prevent adulteration.