Wellington bar Avida the latest to shut its doors in the capital

Monday, 12 May 2025

Wellington bar Avida is the latest victim of struggling hospitality in a post-Covid, work from home era.

“It’s just Wellington at the moment,” said Wellington hospitality veteran and Avida owner Russel Scott, who closed another one of his bars, Whistling Sisters on Taranaki St about a year ago.

Avida, on Featherston St in central Wellington, closed on May 1.

Scott’s two bars on the same intersection, The Featherston and Leuven Belgium Beer Cafe, remain open.

“There is not enough people to go around,” said Scott, who has been in Wellington hospitality and owned bars in the city since 1987.

He was not negative about the situation: “It is just the reality.”

All staff from Avida had been found jobs elsewhere. There was no need for liquidators and all creditors were being paid, he said.

Wellington has been hit by a series of closed hospitality businesses in recent years including the recent liquidation of craft beer bar Hashigo Zake a year after closing, Plonk on Customhouse Quay closing on March 2, and the 2024 liquidations of Courtenay Place venues SugarWoods Bar and Willis St’s Rubix Bar.

In February it was reported that Concrete on Lambton Quay had closed.

Maria Boyle, owner of bar Otto, said things had been “pretty rugged” for the Featherston St eatery.

The public service’s downsizing had been a blow, she said. Last year, the venue’s Christmas party bookings, which usually started in September, hadn’t started coming in until December.

Otto was a winter eatery, she said, and foot traffic had started picking up now that the weather was getting colder: however, summer had been terrible.

Boyle said that with public servants coming back to the office, Fridays had picked up again although Mondays were still quiet.

The owner said she was trying to be optimistic about the state of the hospitality industry at the moment but it was difficult, with international media publishing about people leaving New Zealand.

With people being careful with their money, going out had become more of an event, she said, so eateries should try to offer experiences people could enjoy.

Hospitality NZ chief executive Steve Armitage said that while conditions had been challenging in and around Wellington’s CBD, there had been signs of “green shoots,” as a number of hospitality and retail businesses were now starting to lease premises in recent times.

He said this was a sign of confidence in the city’s future, and that the city’s wider economic conditions will continue to improve throughout the year.

“Businesses still rely on their local customer base to provide stable trade, so it’s important that Wellingtonians continue to support their local operators through these ebbs and flows.

“We are looking forward to hosting our annual conference in Wellington next month as a show of support to all Wellington owners and operators.'