‘Even the tour buses skip it’: What happened to Christchurch’s Cathedral Square?

Wednesday, 16 July 2025

Christchurch’s Cathedral Square was known as the heart of the city.

Cathedral Square was once known as the heart of Christchurch.

Now, despite other parts of the city bustling, it is suffering from low foot traffic and vacant spaces.

Rohit Khandelwal started his stall Kiwi Merino in the Square in 2016.

He said tourists visiting the quake-damaged Christ Church Cathedral were a plenty, the area was lively and business thrived.

Rohit Khandelwal said the Square was “just dead”.

“We used to hang out in this area every night. It was so busy.”

But he said for the past two years, it had been dead quiet. “There’s no one around.”

He used to man his stall until 8pm at night, even in winter, but now said there was “no point” because “nobody’s there.”

Many commercial and retail spaces around the Square were vacant.

Vacant spaces and a call for ‘urgent action’

Many of the ground floor commercial and retail spaces around the Square were vacant, and some of them had been for some time.

But Colliers director of commercial leasing Brynn Burrows said he was confident the area was “coming together”.

The old post office building in Cathedral Square.

“It has struggled, but it is on its way up,” he said. “It’s the last piece of the puzzle.”

He was confident leasing the vacant spaces would bring vibrancy back to the Square.

“That’s what’s happened everywhere else in the city, it’s just unfortunately taken longer there.”

Christchurch’s Cathedral Square before the earthquakes.

The Square’s former post office building had been vacant since tenant The Grand, which planned on opening as a hotel and hospitality complex, went into liquidation in 2024.

Owner Gordon Chamberlain said he had called for “urgent action” to spruce up the Square to make it a place people wanted to visit.

Christchurch City Council urban design team leader Ceciel DelaRue said the Square was “a defining part of the city centre”.

The north-south view through Cathedral Square was blocked.

“There is an opportunity to revitalise the Square and make it a more welcoming and active space that supports the success of the wider central city.”

Take a look inside the Christ Church Cathedral restoration project.

She said revitalisation of the Square would be “ongoing and critical” to support the success of the immediate area and wider city.

DelaRue said the council was in the early stages of developing a shared programme and refreshed plan to “gide investment and activation”.

Cathedral mothballing ‘a real shame’

Most people Stuff spoke to pointed to the quake-damaged Cathedral as the reason for the Square’s woes.

The Christ Church Cathedral reinstatement was halted in August last year after the government refused a request to fill a $60 million funding shortfall.

In December, work to mothball the Cathedral was completed. The scaffolding was removed, the building was weatherproofed and contractors packed up.

But the fences around the church remained, and the rubble could no longer be seen.

“At least before there were people coming just to see the broken church,” Khandelwal said.

Soprano Elena Perroni performs Mimi's aria from La bohème 'Si, mi chiamano Mimi' inside Christ Church Cathedral.

Khandelwal said before it was blocked from view, people would take photos of the damage, valuing it as an earthquake memorial.

“Now even the tour buses skip it.”

He wanted to see the Cathedral restored.

“If that was finished, the city would be finished. Everybody would be happy.”

A Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Ltd spokesperson said the Cathedral was a critical part of the Square’s revitalisation and it was working with stakeholders, including the city council.

The Square used to be bustling, now it is suffering from low foot traffic and vacant spaces.

And despite construction being paused, the spokesperson said thousands of visitors had been welcomed behind the fences and inside the Cathedral over the past year.

They said there had also been a number of events and collaborations with artists at the Cathedral, such as participating in a light show to celebrate Matariki, and hosting a global opera star.

“All of these have been delivered by crowdfunding or sponsorship and at no cost to the public.”

Central City Business Association chair Annabel Turley said it was hard to entice people to the Square with the Cathedral in a state of disrepair.

Finance minister Nicola Willis said the money Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Project had requested “would have been a significant contribution for a project that is not owned by the public, and where public use would be limited due to the Cathedral being a private, religious space”.

She noted the Crown had already contributed $25m to the project, and “substantial investments” toward the Christchurch rebuild.

DelaRue said the Cathedral was “an icon for our city” and the council was supportive of work to reinstate it.

She said options for the fencing were being investigated.

Central City Business Association chair Annabel Turley said it was “a real shame” to have the Cathedral “just sitting there”.

“It does send a message that the city hasn’t moved on,” she said.

Turley said she remembered the Square bustling before the earthquakes, and thought the lack of foot traffic now was purely because of the Cathedral itself.

“When there’s pretty much a derelict building there, it’s pretty hard to entice people.”

Central ward councillor Jake McLellan agreed.

He said the Cathedral was “not where anyone would have hoped”.

McLellan thought, in practice, the heart of the city had shifted.

“But perhaps it will shift back. Or maybe it will share the spotlight with other spots like The Terrace. The city is always evolving and changing.”