Big hospitality venue prepares for reopening

With vaccine restrictions set to ease further from April 4 and case numbers falling, one of Auckland’s largest hospitality venues is reopening.

Lion’s Little Creatures craft brewery at Hobsonville Point will be officially back open for business on Friday, April 8, following a soft re-launch for locals earlier in the week.

Red light restrictions and staff shortages with the Omicron outbreak saw a wave of high-profile venues temporarily close their doors during February, including Prego in Ponsonby, Peter Gordon’s Homeland in the Wynyard Quarter and Soul Bar and Bistro in the Viaduct (all of which have now reopened).

“Decreasing Omicron cases and the changes to hospitality restrictions make the timing right,” said Lion hospitality director Mike Corry.

The venue, which occupies a former Air Force hangar, was a $20 million project for Lion, including the cost of a 10-year lease.

As it was temporarily shuttered on February 22, Lion said: “With the current rules, we simply cannot get enough people through the doors while we still have a lease to pay, staffing challenges and our costs continue to rise. We are a large venue with 750 seats and in normal times we would regularly see thousands of people through the venue over a weekend.”

Yesterday, Corry said: “Little Creatures was doing very well, so while in the short term things have been incredibly hard and it made sense financially to close temporarily, in the long term we are confident in the venue’s continued success.

“Little Creatures has become a community venue and social hub. We’re very much looking forward to some normality, where people feel safe, healthy and excited about socialising again.”