The Country's First Dry Bar is Opening in Auckland

Who doesn’t love a glass of juice at four in the morning?
Stephen Heard
July 02, 2015

The first bar in the country to forgo selling alcohol is set to open its doors, and just in time for Dry July. The bar dubbed T.A.P, an acronym for The After Party, will be trialled along Auckland’s K’Rd this weekend, selling alcohol-free beer, wine, and mock-tails.

Launched by publican Grady Elliott, owner of gay bar Family, T.A.P is intended to attract those typically found dancing on the pavement in the early hours of the morning and comes in response to the Council’s new alcohol rules. Under Auckland Council's current regulations, suburban bars can stay open until 3am and city bars until 4am.

Elliot told the NZ Herald, "Everything is tightening up, so this is a roundabout way of being able to stay out later than the current system where the whole city is shutting down at 4am. A lot of people don't want to go home then, so if they are coming down off their party night and want to keep partying they can carry it on."

Given its unrestricted operating hours, T.A.P will have the ability to stay open until whenever it wants. It will still carry an R18 tag and punters will have to pay a cover charge upon entry. T.A.P opens with a soft launch at midnight this Friday night and will stay open until 8am. It can be found a few doors down from Family Bar.

Published on July 02, 2015 by Stephen Heard
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