Final drop falls in Wellington bar’s liquidation

Wednesday, 16 April 2025

After years of serving Wellingtonians, Hashigo Zake Cult Beer Bar closed its doors in March 2024. (File photo)

The liquidation of Wellington craft beer bar Hashigo Zake has been completed in one serve about a year after it closed.

The first — and last — liquidator’s report, costed at $625.60, dropped recently.

The liquidator said they had not contacted the company’s director but the liquidator’s independent investigation did not identify any assets of interest to creditors so the liquidation was over.

Preferential creditor Inland Revenue was owed $84,021.88, and an extra $47,415.24 was unsecured. The Commissioner of Inland Revenue had applied for the liquidation.

A Warkworth brewery was the only secured creditor and was owed $3110.

The Official Assignee was appointed liquidator recently at the High Court in Wellington and the liquidator was from the Insolvency and Trustee Service, part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

The Official Assignee can be appointed liquidator if the liquidation is court-ordered, and in certain other circumstances.

Hashigo Zake was a bar in Taranaki St, near the Courtenay Place entertainment zone. It opened in the basement of the former Taranaki St police station in 2009.

The bar proved a popular venue for craft beer and live music, especially jazz and blues.

At the time it closed last year, the owners said major Wellington Water roadworks were the last straw after years of struggle.

The works came after the Covid-19 pandemic, large plumbing bills, including for a pump failure that closed the bar for 10 days, and with fewer people working in the area.

After nine years of serving Wellington, Egmont St Deli & Diner is closing its doors, yet another indicator of the constant blows hitting the city’s hospitality industry.

On Wednesday the appointment was advertised of liquidators to another hospitality staple, Chefs on Wax, whose sole focus had been The Catering Studio after the closure last year of its much-praised Egmont St Eatery.

Egmont St Eatery had recently rebranded as Egmont St Deli & Diner before it closed in September.

Owner Simon Pepping had said a couple of months previously that conditions were the worst he had known them in 30 years in the industry.

Liquidator Bede Henderson, from Waterstone Insolvency, said The Catering Studio closed on Monday when Chefs on Wax went into liquidation.

Liquidations were at a 10-year high and the hospitality industry featured more prominently than most industries, he said.

Chefs on Wax was fundamentally a well-run business operated from a good location, and was well respected on the Wellington scene. Its site and equipment would be an excellent opportunity for another business, Henderson said.

Chefs on Wax had been an agile business that responded to the changing circumstances, he said.

Blair and Casey Wilson from Wilson Barbecue, which still has one outlet running in Porirua after two related companies went into liquidation. (File photo)

It was very early in the liquidation process so the creditors’ position was not yet known. The liquidator’s first report was due next week, and another six months after that.

Also this month Wilson Barbecue Ltd stopped trading after a related company, Wilson Barbecue Willis Lane Ltd, was placed in liquidation in early March.

However, a third company in the group, Wilson Barbecue Kai Tahi at 20 Parumoana St, Porirua, was still running.

Last September at its Johnsonville site Wilson Barbecue broke a world record for selling the most burgers in a day — 6336.

But two weeks ago it went into liquidation reportedly owing $644,192 to Inland Revenue, holiday pay of nearly $18,000 to 15 staff members, and nearly $300,000 to dozens of unsecured creditors.