Overview
It's fair to say Sunday wasn't the day for good news. First, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the country was plunging into red in the country's traffic light framework, after cases of Omicron were detected within the community.
Then, if that wasn't bad enough, one of the country's most iconic pizzerias announced its imminent close.
Wellington's Tommy Millions, located on the corner of Courtney Place and Taranaki Street, has become a stalwart for locals and students after a cheap feed in it's 10 year run, thanks to its gargantuan, New York-style $5 slices.
Serving up the goods both day and night, the eatery and gelato store's lights always light up the pedestrian strip — but sadly, will soon be switched off.
On Sunday, January 23, owner Tom Kirton announced on both Facebook and Instagram that Tommy Millions is set to close permanently in the coming months.
In a post climbing "TOMMY MILLIONS IS DEAD", he explained "the jig is up, the horse has bolted, the lady has sung".
But despite being amongst a slew of COVID-19-related hospitality closures in the past year, Kirton said it wasn't the entire reason he had decided to call time on the much-loved establishment.
"It would be easy and convenient to point to the obvious bogeyman as the reason, and sure, that has changed the game, but that's not why we're closing," he wrote in the post. "This is a deliberate decision to call time on a business that has quite literally been my life for the past decade."
He added that "every journey has an arc, a beginning and an end".
"We've fed countless hungry bellies, given many young'uns their first job, helped others into their own pizza businesses and careers, brought life to a dead street corner and more."
Kirton said the team planned to "keep the ovens on'' until the end of March, before setting up for their next "adventure".
Tommy Millions can be found on the corner Courtenay Place and Taranaki Street in Wellington, and is planned to remain open until the end of March 2022. For more updates and information, follow their social media pages.