The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 plus 4 letter word SERVING TIME
I've seen this crossword clue in The Sunday Telegraph
S
E
R
V
I
N
G
T
I
M
E
More clues leading to the result SERVING TIME
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Period during which bar is open/inside" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case period during which bar is open/inside = serving time.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.