New eateries move in as Wellington’s city centre slowly fills its empty spaces
Wednesday, 8 April 2026
The hustle and bustle is returning to parts of Wellington ‒ notably near the reopened library ‒ but there are still quite a few empty lots in the central city.
With longtime businesses Avida and Leuven having closed their doors, locals may be wondering whether new bars or restaurants will soon fill these empty spaces.
Replacing Avida on Featherston St is Madama Butterfly, owned by Apache veteran Le Minh.
Minh told The Post the Featherston St eatery would open mid-May, selling East Asian-fusion cuisine.
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The restaurateur was hard at work on Tuesday preparing the large eatery for its May opening.
The spot would be open for lunch and dinner, with Minh saying Madama Butterfly would operate similarly to how Apache had while on Wakefield St.
The restaurant would offer fast and enjoyable lunches to workers who only had a 45-minute lunch break, and would be aimed at a young customer base, he said.
Avida and Leuven were owned by restaurateur Russell Scott, who owns the Featherston.
Avida closed in May last year, and Leuven shut its doors in January, as Scott said he was ready to retire after years on the capital’s hospitality scene.
Crown Commercial director Bryan Block said he understood three or more tenants were interested in Leuven’s former site.
“So we’ll hopefully see someone open [there] again”.
He said he thought this year appeared more positive for Wellington’s hospitality industry, with more activity and new brands coming in to town.
“We’re hoping to see some of those gaps filled soon.”
On Brandon St, Humphrey’s Counter will be opening soon next to Mojo. Its website says the small eatery will offer hot sandwiches, juice, matcha jars and cookies.
Down the road on Panama St, Collective Coffee Shop has reopened after a two-week closure.
The small cafe was previously situated next to Te Awe Library, before the interim library’s closure upon the reopening of the central library.
Many people had mistakenly thought the cafe had belonged to the library ‒ in fact, the small coffee house is a separate eatery owned by Yu Group, venue manager Jazmine Hurrell said.
The cafe reopened on Tuesday, but there hadn’t been many customers, Hurrell said. She believed many thought the eatery had closed with Te Awe and urged customers to drop by.
The cafe has had a dividing wall built for when the new tenant in the former Te Awe arrives later this year.
A few popular bars continue to lie empty. Busy inner-city bar Concrete closed early last year but the site on Cable Car Lane, off Lambton Quay, has still not been filled.
Laundry Bar on Cuba St has been closed since June 2022. Its property manager declined to comment on whether there had been interest in the site.