Central city restaurant to close for year

Tuesday, 17 September 2024

Another Wellington restaurant is closing, blaming the capital’s current hospitality climate.

Restaurant The Hudson, on Chews Lane between Willis St and Victoria St, will be closing on October 11.

“We have made the difficult decisions to put the Hudson into hibernation until the area see some green shoots,” James Pask, general manager and executive chef of Yu Group that runs The Hudson said in an email.

“Trade has been tough in this area of the city for some time with poor trade for a sustained period of time.”

He said that the restaurant was trading at about three quarters of what it turned over before the Covid pandemic. Also the loss of nearby businesses - Pask estimates the numbers in the city on weekdays is down by a third - had hit the restaurant hard.

The group will retain the lease and the building and will re-open once buildings now being strengthened and rebuilt in the area open up. Pask hoped that would be by late 2025.

A notice posted on the restaurant’s window said that “we would like to say a massive thank you to you, our amazing patrons, and will always be grateful for your support and laughs over the years.”

The Hudson is one of many restaurants and bars that have closed or are closing this year, including Concord, fine dining Māori restaurant Hiakai, Field and Green, and Egmon St Deli and Diner. Businesses on Victoria St have reported that their customer base has been affected by construction taking place on Wellington Central Library.

And although The Hudson has been put into hibernation, the Yu Group does plan to open two new venues - a casual Italian pizza joint in the Bell Gully building and a second Astoria restaurant (the first is on Midland Park) in the new Bowen quarter.