Overview
We hope you're making the most of the silly season whānau — our city's bars need it more than ever. Good Spirits Hospitality, the company that owns several of the city's most famous watering holes, is selling up and moving on, citing the financial pressure of the COVID pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.
On the chopping block: Brit-themed pub The Fox, East Auckland's Botany Commons, pup-friendly haunt Union Post, Kingsland's Citizen Park, Ponsonby sports bar The Cav and, perhaps most devastatingly for many late-night revellers, Danny Doolan's pub in the Viaduct (and its new underground haunt, Cellar Bar). O'Hagan's pub has reportedly shut permanently after its lease expired on Monday — and the future of Hamilton pub the Cock & Bull is also up in the air.
According to NBR, the hospitality group was instructed to sell the business following a review by Wellington investment bank Tonnant Partners. Three years of financial losses all took their toll, as well as a failed plan to merge with Nourish Group (Soul, Andiamo, Jervois Steak House) which reportedly fell through earlier this year.
Bids for all GSH's venues are being taken over the summer and an outcome is expected by the end of February — so watch this space. Alternatively, if you're a millionaire who has always dreamed of owning an Irish pub, consider this your time to shine.
Good Spirits Hospitality has placed its nine bars up for sale this week, with bids expected before the end of February. To read more, head to NBR — and come back here in late summer to find out the results.