Returning city night life to ‘glory days’
Matt McLaughlin wants to make the capital’s after-dark offering ‘‘world class’’. But the prominent Wellington bar owner believes investment, innovation and a strategy is desperately needed.
In his view, the late night bars on Courtenay Place seem focused on young people and a ‘‘race to the bottom’’ in terms of discounting and lack of individuality.
They want ‘‘cheap and cheerful’’, he says. ‘‘I just feel a lot of the bars down Courtenay Place play the same music, have the same drinks specials – it is all much of a muchness.’’
It has been a tough 21⁄ years, although there are arguments supporting a central city in decline well before Covid-19 loomed large.
While some hospitality figures are ‘‘squeezing up’’, others are reopening iconic venues despite desperate labour shortages.
Wellington’s new mayor, Tory Whanau, agrees the precinct needs a ‘‘much more diverse range of hospitality’’ but she is optimistic about a suite of improvements going on across the central city.
‘‘A lot of these bars are very much for the young ones. I am keen to have some restaurants and cocktail bars that I would like to go to.’’ Improving the vibrancy of Courtenay Place is one of her priorities. ‘‘I will be one of the first to say it is a bit naff at the moment but the plans are in place and the conversations are happening – it will absolutely get back to the state that it once was ... the glory days.
‘‘With a bit of patience and more innovative thinking, I am fully confident we can get Courtenay Place really humming again.’’ The reopening of St James Theatre, Embassy Theatre and Hannah Playhouse are bringing much-needed culture and vibrancy, Whanau says.
‘‘That is helping bring the crowds back, which leads to a positive outcome for our eateries and our local businesses.
‘‘Crowds, along with initiatives such as Pōneke Promise, will lead to a safer, more inclusive, creative space – acknowledging that it is not quite there yet.’’
Whanau points to the improvements in Dixon St, including the $600,000 wooden boardwalk, which have created a new atmosphere.
‘‘By replacing the car parks with that boardwalk, we have had feedback from businesses that it really has brought a lot of people back to their establishments.
‘‘People are loving the outdoor dining and they are loving sitting out among all the loudness of the street.’’ More people on the street helps curb anti-social behaviour, she says.
McLaughlin, director of the Hoff Hospitality Group, says labour shortages have put huge pressures on businesses – so much so he is consolidating his offerings. He owns Panhead in Tory St, Iron Horse (formerly The Gasworks) in Miramar and
Moustache in Courtenay Place (formerly Danger Danger) but is in the process of selling the latter.
‘‘With the way the world is at the moment I don’t have too many options than having to squeeze up.’’ The industry is going through a ‘‘whole new phase now’’, he says, but it is just a point in time.
Over the years, McLaughlin has had numerous hospitality venues in the city. He owned Four Kings sports bar for 15 years and built rooftop bar Dirty Little Secret on the Hope Gibbons building. ‘‘I had a really good run with some amazing times in some amazing businesses and I had some really good successes.’’
He sold those businesses three years ago, before Covid.
‘‘As an industry we are really good at adapting, we are really good at finding fun inventive ways to keep our doors open and keeping the customers happy, but this is unprecedented and something a large portion of the industry has struggled with.’’
Although city leaders believe Wellington’s nightlife can return to its best, McLaughlin is not so sure. ‘‘If someone was to say to me 10 years ago that in 10 years Courtenay Place would be done and dusted, I wouldn’t have believed you. But we are standing here today.
‘‘I firmly believe the face of the hospitality industry has changed, and we are not going to get back to those heady days of the late 1990s and the early 2000s when Wellington was pumping. I would walk down Dixon St and meet Billy Connolly, you would walk into Matterhorn and see Fat Freddy’s Drop or Trinity Roots or the Black Seeds playing for free.’’
It makes him sad looking at what the city has become.
‘‘Our city needs to put a focus on the night-time economy because it is a huge part of the face of Wellington– and it is broken. It needs a plan and I wanted to help bring that plan to the table,’’ he said, referring to his plans to run for city council.
‘‘There are some processes already in place ... I don’t think a lot of them are particularly good.’’
McLaughlin does not believe the direction of the multi-agency city safety programme Pōneke Promise is quite right at the moment. Fellow hospitality figure
Nick Mills, of M Group, is more optimistic, while recognising the massive challenges facing the industry. The group will soon reopen one of the icons of the scene – Hummingbird – which is undergoing an extensive refurbishment and strengthening. Drinks should be flowing around Christmas or in the New Year.
‘‘We as a group are looking to make a positive change for the area and get away from some of the more nightclubby type things to more sophisticated dining and drinking,’’ he says.
A lack of chefs is putting huge pressure on establishments offering food, Mills says.
‘‘Everyone has taken one helluva hiding over Covid ... if we could only get staff we would see a resurgence like we have never seen before.’’
Mills also wants landlords to spend money on improving buildings.
Hospitality New Zealand’s Jeremy Smith says the key players need to drive positive change in the industry, pointing to the annual Eat, Drink, Play festival that kicked off earlier this year.
The perception of the entertainment precinct is a critical component of its success, he says, and admits Courtenay Place’s reputation is not at its best right now.
Improving central city safety
Ann Cunningham, author of the Safer Cities by Design report released last week, says the Wellington City Council is ‘‘making all the right moves’’ with Pōneke Promise.
‘‘If change wasn’t immediately apparent, that was only because it would take time. This is what cities internationally are showing — what works.’’
Cunningham says things like improving sight lines and toilets, as is being done through the redevelopment of Te Aro Park, are proven to work.
It is also positive the city is addressing the underlying social issues at the same time, she says.
What’s going on right now?
Dixon St revitalisation; multiagency Pōneke Promise safety programme; Te Aro Park improvements (demolition of toilets under way); Golden Mile pedestrianisation; theatres reopening (St James Theatre, The Embassy, Hannah Playhouse); the hospitality industry’s Eat, Drink, Play festival; businesses coming back, such as Hummingbird; Reading Cinemas reopening ‘‘in discussions’’, according to the mayor.
The days of heaving bars, bustling restaurants and blockbuster film premieres seem a lifetime ago for an entertainment precinct still reeling from the ravages of earthquake regulation, stagnation and social deprivation. Piers Fuller reports.