Recent data from Womply show that 43% of the city’s bars were closed on Oct. 5 and spending at the ones still open was down 80% from the corresponding day a year earlier. While the data only includes the single date of Oct. 5, the snapshot is representative of the overall trend this year, according to Womply, a provider of business software and services.

The numbers demonstrate how high costs and social distancing requirements — in New York’s already famously tight spaces — have combined to make 2020 a particularly difficult year for the city’s pubs and bars. In addition to the high cost of rent, Joaquin Simo, the owner of speakeasy-style Pouring Ribbons in the East Village, says that basic bar staples like lemons and limes can cost as much as 25% more in New York than in places like California.

“We could definitely lose three-quarters of the bars we started the year with, especially in New York,” Simo said. “Bars are a volume business; historically the busier the better.”