Avida Bar now in liquidation as Wellington hospo scene struggles

Wednesday, 20 August 2025

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The owner of the closed Avida Bar says it is the worst time he can remember for hospitality in Wellington.

“It’s never been this bad,” he said.

Russel Scott closed the Featherston St bar in May and has now put it into liquidation. Scott also owns two other nearby bars, The Featherston and Leuven Belgian Beer Cafe, which are still open.

Scott said he had been in hospitality in the capital since 1987 and it was the worst he had seen it.

He said the closure was to do with the Wellington scene specifically. While other areas of the country were starting to pick up, the capital wasn’t.

“If there are events like at Sky Stadium, that helps us. But we really need more people coming back into town.”

The first liquidator’s report, out on Wednesday, said $296,146 was owed to unsecured creditors, while as a secured creditor ANZ Bank was owed $19,945 and Inland Revenue was a preferential creditor owed $26,074.

The Irish Pub Company, which traded as Avida, had total assets of $308,504.

Scott said the report was a formality and every creditor had now been paid. Staff from the bar had also found other jobs.

In the report, Scott had advised the liquidator the reasons stemmed from a range of factors which had characterised the well-documented downturn in the Wellington hospitality sector since Covid-19.

The report said “despite the recent efforts of the shareholder in reducing costs and in providing tangible financial support, the business was unable to remain viable. The director elected to cease trading and the shareholder, on seeking professional advice, resolved to place the company into liquidation.”

Scott said the public sector cuts and job market insecurity were not helping. He agreed people were more likely to bring lunch from home rather than buy out.

Wellington’s hospitality scene has been volatile for a while with closures coming regularly.

And some places are moving on - last week Wellington institution Fidel’s Cafe went up for sale after closing in May for repairs and earthquake strengthening.

Wellington has seen a number of high profile closures over the past 24 months, including Mabel’s, and Daisy’s in Tinakori Rd.

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