The Cooperage Bandstand was constructed in 1867, six years after the first Bandstand came up at south Kensington’s Royal Horticultural Society Gardens. In the 1860s, the entire heritage precinct of Oval Maidan — Madame Cama Road and Maharshi Karve Road — used to be a promenade, while the Bandstand used to host performances that were attended by the city’s aristocrats as well as common citizens.

As time progressed, the Bandstand became unused and fell into a state of disrepair. It came to be used by office-goers for their afternoon siesta or miscreants at night.

In 2017, the heritage cell of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) took up its restoration work. “Initially, the Bandstand was a standalone structure. The area was then known as Esplanade, where people would gather for strolls and socialisation by the seaside. The Cooperage garden was developed much later and with time, the Bandstand fell into disuse,” Rahul Chemburkar, conservation architect from Vaastu Vidhaan who was the consultant to BMC in the restoration project told The Indian Express.

Chemburkar said that earlier, there used to be at least six bandstands in Mumbai. “These bandstands used to be venues for public performances, at a time when this was the only form of entertainment available for people,” Chemburkar said.

The restoration works, for which the BMC had to source original Burma teak, were completed in 2019. The eroded portions were restored, the submerged plinth was recovered and the flooring was redone. The BMC also constructed an open amphitheatre around the Bandstand. The following year, the Covid-19 pandemic broke out and the garden had to be shut again.

In August 2024, under the umbrella of reading club — Mumbai Bookies, hundreds started gathering at the spot for a reading session during weekend mornings. The club is run by Shantanu Naidu, general manager, office of Ratan Tata and board of directors in Tata Small Animal hospitals.

“After conceiving the idea of Mumbai Bookies, we started scouting for locations in parks and open spaces. We immediately liked this Bandstand as the shape would allow people to sit in circles in the lap of nature and the moment anybody looked up, all they could see was people reading books in front of them,” Naidu told The Indian Express. He said that at present, there are more than 600 members in the club, divided into two batches of Saturday and Sunday. The reading sessions are free, while participants are required to bring their own books.

“The basic idea behind starting this club is to make people get back to reading. In the last week of December, we were able to raise more than 7,000 books as donations from our readers. These books will be distributed to the schools in rural districts of Maharashtra,” Naidu said.

Gargi Sandu, co-founder of Mumbai Bookies, said that the reading club is operational in Pune, Jaipur and Bangalore as well. “We started in Mumbai and a week later we started in Pune. Later in we started in Jaipur and Bangalore. Our aim is to expand this club to as many cities as possible,” Sandu told The Indian Express.

According to a civic official, the BMC is not charging anything for hosting the reading club. “The reading club is a social initiative and as per the guidelines, BMC doesn’t charge anything for social events. Earlier, during the Kala Ghoda festival, some events used to take place in the Bandstand, but this is the first in many years that such an event is going on for long at a place,” the official told The Indian Express.
Mayank Kapoor, a 19-year-old reader who travels from Mira Road and attended three sessions, said “Reading books in the open not only stimulates the mind but also improves concentration. This club is not only bringing back the habit of reading for people but also working towards improving the citizens’ mental health.”