Whistling Sisters closes in emotional decision
Saturday, 20 January 2024
Whistling Sisters has shut its doors for the last time, in another loss for Wellington hospitality.
The quiet closure of the brewery, restaurant and pub was the latest in the string of bad news for New Zealand’s craft beer industry, which Garage Project chairperson Mike O’Donnell described last year as the result of a “perfect storm that has hit craft brewing in Aotearoa”.
For pub owner Russel Scott, it’s a sad end to a personally important business venture.
The veteran publican, who founded the Backbencher and still owns Avida, Leuven, and The Featherston, set up Whistling Sisters in memory of his daughter Karen, who died from breast cancer in 2015.
“I get quite emotional about it. Karen was a precious person, she climbed mountains and never gave up,” Scott said.
The Karen Louisa Foundation had raised and donated more than $300,000 to breast cancer research at the University of Otago thanks to Whistling Sisters.
Having a cause behind the brewery attracted amazing people to work there, Scott said, and he thanked staff for their hard work.
The goal when he started Whistling Sisters in 2018 was to one day reach $1 million in donations a year.
“It goes to show, you should never make business decisions based on emotions,” Scott said.
Whistling Sisters is yet another hospitality business closing down because Wellington is too quiet.
Scott said there had been a “whole shitstorm” with Covid-19, more people working from home, staff shortages and the city being a whole lot quieter than it was six years ago.
The timing ‒ the brewpub opened in 2018 ‒ meant it didn’t have a lot of time to get off the ground before the first Covid-19 lockdown, and certainly not enough time to become an institution like many of Scott’s other pubs.
“It just got too tough, but it was personally hard to make the decision to shut.”
It’s been an uphill slog rather than an easy bounce back from Covid-19. At Scott’s other pubs, sales figures remain 20 to 30% lower than 2019. The demand is no longer there for the 100-hour weeks Leuven used to have ‒ opening from brunch to late-nights.
The craft beer environment had also changed, Scott said, no longer the craze it was in 2015, with more people opting for low alcohol beers.
“At my age you can’t take risks any more.”
The Whistling Sisters premises, on the corner of Ghuznee St and Taranaki St, will go on the market in Feburary.
“Hopefully someone can do something good with it.”
Mike Egan, owner of restaurant Monsoon Poon and Restaurant Association president, said it was sad to see Whistling Sisters closed. “It’s bad news, they were in a great location.”
He frequented the brewpub for brunch after a gym session at Les Mills.
He felt that Wellington was going through a time of stasis in terms of hospitality, but hoped it would lead to a reset.
“People are too gun shy to open up new places and try something new and innovative. That’s what we used to be known for. We need some jumper leads to restart.”