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Celebration of NZ and Wellington hospo marred by closure of Wellington restaurant

Thursday, 1 August 2024

Shepherd Elliot, left and Sean Golding outside the then-new, now-closing Concord restaurant in Wellington.
Shepherd Elliot, left and Sean Golding outside the then-new, now-closing Concord restaurant in Wellington.

It should have been a night to celebrate the capital’s once-vibrant restaurant scene but, as the nationwide hospitality awards were being announced, a landmark Wellington eatery was announcing its closure.

“Alas we must be added to the increasing number of these casualties and August will be our last month of trade at Concord,” said a social media post from the restaurant that was once Lido on the corner of Victoria and Wakefield streets in Wellington.

“We are of course devastated to announce this and we realise this will be upsetting for the neighbourhood we operate in and adore.”

In terms of timing, the announcement from a leading Wellington restaurateur could not have been more contrasting.

Elliot, left and Golding in the then-new Concord restaurant, in the space of the former Lido.
Elliot, left and Golding in the then-new Concord restaurant, in the space of the former Lido.

In Christchurch, the Hospitality NZ New Zealand Business Awards for Excellence were being held at a black-tie dinner at Te Pae Convention Centre.

Three big awards went to Auckland, Christchurch and Hawke’s Bay each while the Thistle Inn in Wellington was the only capital city winner — for the best local.

Meanwhile, Wellington awoke on Thursday to the first day of Visa Wellington On a Plate, a food festival created in 2009 during the Global Financial Crisis to support Wellington’s hospitality community through the winter low season.

Food inflation, staff shortages, soaring interest rates, and patchy customer demand are all pushing hospitality into survival mode.

Concord was started by leading Wellington hospo figures Sean Golding and Shepherd Elliott in the space that for decades was the landmark cafe Lido.

Another of the pair’s restaurants, Shepherd, closed earlier this year with “changing dining habits” and the “rising cost of living” blamed.

Elliott in June told The Post many Wellington restaurants were struggling to stay afloat.

“If people have a favourite spot that they want to see, continue to be around, they need to get out and support those places,” he said. He hoped the Wellington industry would bounce back in a couple of years.

He stepped back from Concord in January but was this week saddened by its closure.

“It's so hard at the moment. If you don't have everything working well it's a struggle to keep it going. It's all about value for money at the moment,” he said.

“I've been trying to get a research and development kitchen going. But there is no appetite for innovation at the moment.”

Concord joins a long list of recently-closed Wellington hospitality venues: