Council threatened to cancel lease of Wellington café icon

Saturday, 17 February 2024

Prolonged construction work aims to save Te Ngākau Civic Square, which is littered with earthquake-prone buildings and vulnerable to rising sea levels.

Beloved Wellington institution Nikau Café is fighting to stay open after the council-controlled museum’s trust threatened to terminate its lease.

The award-winning eatery has been operating on the ground floor of the City Gallery for more than 25 years.

But prolonged construction work to earthquake-proof buildings in Civic Square, and the removal of car parking spaces, has seen business at the once popular café drop by two-thirds.

Nikau’s owner John Fiso says the café was in discussions with Wellington Museums Trust, also known as Experience Wellington, which operates tourist attractions for the council, about options for relocation and compensation.

But abruptly, just before Christmas, Fiso was told the café’s lease was to be terminated.

“We went through Covid. We kept open, we’ve worn the increasing cost of labour, the supply chain issues. And the one thing that is going to shut us down is the council giving us a termination letter saying: get out.

Fiso says the council has waged war on the Capital's hospitality sector.

“The council have made it so unbearable for businesses… they put all these pressures back on businesses, which are really struggling.”

Philanthropist John Fiso has a NZ Order of Merit for services to sport, education and the Pasifika community. The Institute of Sports founder also owns primary healthcare provider, Pacific Health Plus and Nikau cafe.

Nikau is cherished by city foodies for its rooftop garden, with sweeping city views, sunny courtyard and legendary kedgeree. Fiso took over in 2018.

He says in September, a new three-year lease was signed. But on December 5th, the trust sent a letter saying the café had to shut down and remove all its equipment by January 19th.

The trust says there is no current lease agreement in place and has hired top-flight laywers Simpson Grierson.

“How silly can they be? They are spending ratepayers money, and they don’t seem to care,” Fiso said.

“If the council wants to be a landlord, then it should recognize landlords’ obligations and reinforce tenants’ rights. Because it should be a standard bearer for the city.”

Experience Wellington Acting Chief Executive Carolyn Mettrick claimed the café “has an ongoing history of late and incomplete payment for rent and power, and failing to engage in conversations about payment. Our small Finance Team has chased the business consistently over the years about their late or unpaid rent and power.”

But David Marsh, who operates the café for the Fiso Group, strongly rejects this. He said: “We dispute this. We acknowledge that there was an oversight payment in January 2023, after that all rent was paid on time until December when we were in dispute.”

Mettrick said the trust agreed to extend the notice period to February 19 “while these discussions continue.”

“Experience Wellington has provided rent support for Nikau Café on a number of occasions and continues to cover the costs of hygiene products, toilet paper and handtowels to support the business.”

Marsh said the Gallery has always paid for the provision of the shared toilets because they are used by its staff and customers.

“Every time the Gallery has provided rent relief it has been due to extenuating circumstances which has directly affected the café operations, for example putting scaffolding in the courtyard to replace the cladding on the Gallery.

“During COVID, as with all good landlords, rent relief was provided. We have been asking for rent relief as the café operation continues to be affected by decisions made by the council and by WMT.”

Wellington City Council said it met with the Fiso Group “several times’ to discuss the Civic Square works and the likely impact on footfall.

“We believe continuing to operate Nikau café in the coming years in that area would be very challenging,” the council said in a statement.

Officials raised the potential of assistance with relocation costs and “on their request looked into a couple of potential sites in their preferred location of the waterfront, but also suggested they engage a leasing agent..

“Requests for compensation were made, but neither the council or Experience Wellington is in the position to provide compensation to a private business. Nikau was informed of this.”

The council said it has appointed two new staff, one to work with hospitality and retail businesses, and a chief licensing inspector to ensure a “professional relationship” with the sector.

The Wellington hospitality scene has lost some big names recently; this week renowned restaurant Hiakai, announced it would be closing its doors though it signalled a new venture was on the horizon.

It joins a host of high-profile Wellington restaurants calling the end of an era, citing tough economic conditions and uncertainty around central city construction projects.