Party’s over for Fortune Favours as craft beer veterans move on
Thursday, 28 August 2025
When Shannon Thorpe announced the closure of his Leeds St brew bar, he was inundated with support.
The founder of Fortune Favours, an award-winning Wellington brewery of eight years, said the cost of running it had simply got too high.
Thorpe quit his sales job in 2016 and opened the brewery in the renovated Barber & Co building the following year. Its closure was announced on Facebook on Wednesday.
Thorpe told The Post about some of the factors that had contributed to the bar’s closure.
Following the Covid lockdown, there had been a “sugar hit” to the hospitality industry, he said, as there was sizeable demand and people had saved a bit of money during the time.
However, after bouncing back pretty strongly, there had been two years of continuous decline: a 45% drop over the past two years, Thorpe said.
And the late-night crowd didn’t exist any more, Thorpe said.
“We still get after work drinks, but less spend per head, and we're making less margin because we've had to discount our products. That’s just because no one's got any cash … and costs have risen significantly.”
Even with that, sales were still down, he said. The beer industry had undergone its fair share of cost increases, including the CO2 shortage, and the war in Ukraine had increased the global cost of malt.
Excise tax - applicable to alcohol, fuel, and tobacco - continued to rise as prices inflated, Thorpe said, comparing that with Australia, where the first 400,000 litres of excise was rebatable, and the Australian government had but a freeze on excise increases over the next two years.
“Little things like that would make a massive difference to the industry, but it just seems there's no appetite for it from our government.”
The downsizing of the public service had also really affected business, with redundancies and restructures seeming continuous.
“What's worse than someone being made redundant is the fear of being made redundant. So if you're scared that you might lose your job, what do you do? You stop spending.”
When asked what he was going to do next, Thorpe laughed, saying he had no idea. The process of closing up the business had been long and arduous.
“I’m going to have a sleep. I’m going to spend some time with my family … I've been in the industry for 25 years, and the last eight years with Fortune Favours, so I just need to have a bit of a reset and think about it.”
Thorpe was exiting the brew pub side of the business, but in terms of the brand itself, Fortune Favours may yet live on, the founder said, implying it may be sold to another buyer.
“There's some ongoing conversations at the moment that could see the brand continue, but it will not be with me.”
When asked which beer he was particularly proud of, Thorpe compared the question to being asked to choose a child.
“It’s more the moments and the people, as opposed to the physical products.”
When the brewery created the rare beer challenge to raise money for Rare Disorders NZ, that was really cool, he said.
“That's probably my single proudest moment from eight years … . it’s the one thing that really sticks out for me.”
He added that winning the People’s Choice Award at last weekend’s Beervana for their Wairarapa IPA was a great high to finish the journey on.
He had received more than 200 messages since the news broke, which the whole team had appreciated.
“So my final words would be just thanks to Wellington, everyone who supported us over the years.”
Head brewer Dale Cooper, who has been with Fortune Favours since it opened, said he would be going on to work for the Masterton craft beer room, Horseshoe Tap Room.
Its winning Wairarapa IPA had been created in collaboration with Horseshoe Tap Room.
“Before we brewed the beer, I didn't know it was going to be our last beer. I didn't know we were going to be closing out so quickly, so kind it’s of bizarre, really. It's almost a bit of fate.”