A shop closed on Cuba St, in central Wellington. Photo: RNZ / Lauren Crimp
Wellington's mayor admits council is partly responsible for hospitality operators struggling in the capital.
Bar and restaurant owners in Te Whanganui-a-Tara said they were hanging on to business by the skin of their teeth.
Hospitality New Zealand board member and bar owner Jeremy Smith blamed the usual suspects - the pandemic, cost of living, interest rates, supply costs and labour shortages.
He warned of a domino effect.
"We can't have too many more empty shops or businesses along Courtenay Place, or even other streets in Wellington.
"As soon as too many of those pop up you start ending up finding it quite difficult to keep the vibrancy going."
Smith said he did not see much positive change ahead for the industry but was convinced Wellington's hospitality heartbeat would remain strong.
Another owner of five bars and restaurants, Sean Golding, was not so optimistic and said Wellington City Council had a part to play.
"It's pretty depressing, to be honest," Golding said.
"I don't think I've felt this disheartened about the city and how shabby it is for such a long time, it just feels like it needs a clean, and needs some pride put back into it."
Golding wanted council to clean up the streets, better understand the industry's needs, make consenting and licensing easier, and ensure the capital was affordable for students.
People were choosing other cities for their studies, leaving the capital's bar and restaurant owners in the lurch, he said.
"That's a huge workforce for us, not to mention their disposable income when they go out at night and they spend a bit of money, that all contributes you know, but they've got nowhere to live."
Golding said hospitality was let down by a series of disinterested mayors, and they were pinning their hopes on Tory Whanau.
Whanau said she heard them - as an inner-city dweller who frequented local bars and restaurants, she was the person for the job, and things would soon change.
"I do know things have been a bit tough lately and our council has a part to play in that, especially along Courtenay Place and of course Cuba [Street], where it's becoming quite pricey to even have a bar there."
She would push council to strip back the bureaucracy faced by bar and restaurant owners, she said.
"The biggest issue that I'm hearing from our bar owners is the licensing and consenting process, we need to make it a lot easier.
"So I'm going to work with council officers to see what we can do, make it more streamlined, make it a bit quicker, so we can get those bars up and running."
The paperwork was just signed for a fresh council role of city manager, who would work with bars and restaurants to make consents more accessible, Whanau said.
Council was ramping up its events strategy to bring more people into the capital, and working on better housing and public transport options so the city was once again attractive to cash-strapped students, she said.