Is downtown Auckland becoming a ghost town at night?

Monday, 17 June 2024

Central Auckland’s night time economy is worth almost $500 million a year.

But some restaurants and bars are still finding it tough.

It’s hoped the City Rail Link will boost the night time economy when it opens in 2026.

Take a walk through downtown Auckland one night late in the week and in most places, you’ll find it’s a bustling city, with people out for a bite to eat or a drink with friends.

But it is deathly quiet in other areas, particularly early in the week. Some restaurants don’t bother to open on a Monday night and those that do can be pretty empty.

Some may argue it’s expected that places are quiet on a Monday or Tuesday, but Auckland has a metropolitan population of 1.7 million, similar to Sheffield or Glasgow in the UK, Jacksonville or San Jose in the States and Adelaide in Australia.

People visiting these cities would expect to see it vibrant downtown in the evenings, and so too for Auckland.

Al Brown, who runs the Depot Eatery on Federal Street, says it’s been tough for restaurateurs to keep their heads above water in recent years.

“We all hung on to get through Covid and then to go through what we’re calling a cost of living crisis,” Brown said.

“I can’t stand the word crisis, because it feeds the doom and gloom out there and we need to be relatively positive.

“But Covid didn’t help and now we’ve gone into this situation. Costs have gone through the roof, rents, wages and food costs are up.”

Brown says there are still cones around as construction work continues on the City Rail Link and he feels some potential customers decide it’s not worth the effort of coming into the city centre at night.

“A lot of people are thinking they don’t want to go into town, they can’t get a park, or don’t know how much it will cost,” he said.

“So maybe there is an opportunity for the council to look at, trying to get the city centre going at night, with better parking and less fees at night, or free parking.”

However, the Council and Auckland Transport are going the other way and from October 1, there will be a cost to park on streets beyond 10pm.

Michael Dearth owns The Grove and Baduzzi restaurants in Auckland, he also says his businesses aren’t back to where they were pre-Covid.

“The Grove is fine dining and Baduzzi is more casual,” Dearth said.

“The fine dining has been down, but it’s been a little blip. The Grove has been busy, but of course, it could be busier.

“Baduzzi, I don’t know if it’s that family atmosphere, but we’re getting more of those extreme ups and downs. Business is good, it could be better, it’s down about 30%.”

Viv Beck from Heart of the City says that in the 12 months to March 2024, the value of the night-time economy in the downtown area it represents was $495 million, which was a third of overall spending and back to pre-Covid levels.

“If I look at the data, we’re actually doing pretty well, considering some of the challenges we’ve had,” Beck said.

“So that’s a positive starting point. There is lots to do, pre-Covid we were excited about growing the night-time economy and that’s where we are now.”

Crime in the city centre has been in the news this year, which puts people off making the trip in from the suburbs. But Beck says this is something police are getting on top of.

“Crime is trending down,” she said.

“There are a lot of wardens and guards on the streets, we’re lobbying for more police and we want to see a downtown police station.”

However, Dearth says he still has concerns.

“It worries me, I have young teenagers myself and they’re going into the city and I also have about 65 staff. So I’m a dad with a lot of humans to look after,” he said.

“With that drinking culture, you worry about these things. I’ve lived in a lot of cities around the world and I know that it’s a reality of city life.

“But I’ve been seeing the police having more of a presence, so that’s been a positive thing.”

It’s not just the actual criminal incidents, but also the perception that it’s no longer safe to be downtown in the evenings that puts people off going to the city.

“There have been some unsavoury incidents that have happened in downtown Auckland over the last 18 months and I think everyone’s aware of that,” Brown said.

“We’re looking for more policing and better-lit areas. We want this to be a safe place to come into.

“It’s a vibrant city, it’s one of the great cities of the world and it should be a place that you can walk around 24 hours of the day and have a good time.”

The City Rail Link, which opens in 2026, has been held up as the great saviour for Auckland’s night-time economy. The new stations by Albert Street and Karangahape Road will improve access to these areas and Brown hopes it will encourage more Aucklanders to make the trip in.

“I really hope the City Rail Link makes a massive difference,” he said.

“That’s what a modern city is about, being able to get around easily and quickly, without the hassles of parking.

“We can’t wait for that to open and I’m sure it’s going to make a huge difference.

“There are so many businesses that have been hanging on and disrupted through a long build, so they’ll be hoping that happens too and they’ll be welcoming anyone into the city.”

Dearth says the years of construction for the City Rail Link have made it a depressing area around Albert Street, but he can see some light at the end of the tunnel, no pun intended.

“I have been watching the development of the City Rail Link, the Grove’s window overlooks Albert Street,” he said.

“We’ve watched all of the way back from when our beautiful magnolia trees were cut down because they were building a tunnel. To a giant quagmire of mud and four-story machinery.

“We’ve had the GFC, pandemics and the cost of living crisis, but I’ve been hearing some positive things about this tunnel and that we’re on the precipice of it being finished.

“I’m hoping that everything from interest rates to people’s attitudes to go out and supporting each other in Auckland and the Central Rail Link will finally come through for us and it will be a much more efficient way to bring people into the city.”

The City Rail Link stations are expected to cope with 54,000 passengers an hour at peak time by 2035 and Beck says this would transform the city. However, trains would have to run later than they currently do to help the night-time economy, while businesses still have to manage for two more years without it.

“If it has the numbers projected, it will fundamentally change access for people within its reach,” she said.

“With the night-time economy, you’ll be able to get out at Aotea Station, walk to the Town Hall, or Gallery, or a show at the Civic and then go back home again.

“That will be a fundamental change. But what happens between now and then is really important, because we’ve had nearly a decade of major construction.

“We had the worst impact in the country of Covid here, the residual impacts like safety, and the cost of living.

“So how we manage this period now and address some of those barriers, keep building our offering and getting more people here, that’s critically important.”