• Plonk wine bar in Wellington is closing next month, due to low foot traffic and economic challenges in the CBD.
• Operator Stephen Morris of Yu Group said they had to close three venues last year, but opened six.
• Morris said current economic conditions are the toughest they’ve been since 2008.

A central Wellington wine bar has confirmed it is closing, blaming fewer people in the CBD for declining business.

Plonk opened on the corner of Customhouse Quay and Johnston Street in October 2023.

It describes itself as offering a mix of local and worldly wines with a food menu inspired by French classics.

The site was previously home to Yu Group’s award-winning restaurant Atlas, which closed in 2023 with the group citing a decreased appetite for fine dining.

“The team at Plonk are sad to say that we will be closing our doors on the 2nd of March,” a post on social media states.

“To our loyal customers, staff, and star suppliers, we could not have done the past two years without you, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for this incredible journey.”

Plonk opened in October 2023, but Yu Group says low foot traffic has meant it's unsustainable and will close next month. Photo / Wellington NZ

Wellington’s hospitality scene faced a wave of closures last year, including Shepherd, Nikau Cafe and Pandoro, due to economic challenges and construction disruption.

Plonk is owned by hospitality group Yu Group, which announced in September last year it had “made the difficult decision” to close The Hudson bar nearby, due to declining foot traffic in the area.

Stephen Morris, who is responsible for Yu Group’s front-of-house operations, told the Herald that a lack of people in the area was to blame for the decision to close the business.

“There’s less people walking along the streets.”

Asked what is causing the reduced foot traffic in the area, Morris said he “wouldn’t want to speculate on the work-from-home, the public sector cuts, I can just tell you that there are less people in the city”.

“The existing car parks on the streets are empty more often than they were two years ago.”

Morris said the business tried things to bring people in like jazz shows on a Thursday, which did work, but couldn’t translate it into increased patronage throughout the week.

“Over the last 18 months, we just haven’t got enough traction to make it wash its face and so it’s time to stop, regroup, and come up with another plan.

“Any closure is always fraught, there’s a human cost, there’s people we’ve worked with for the past 18 months, quite a few of them we have redeployed within the group but there are a couple who we won’t.”

He said they will be retaining the lease of the site, which will act as an overflow kitchen for Yu Group, but won’t open as a new venue in the short-term.

“You’ve always got to be reinventing yourself,” he said.

Morris said despite the struggles in the sector, Yu Group has remained “buoyant”, closing three venues but opening six.

2024 saw the Hudson, Cinderella and Corso Pastaria, located in Willis Lane, close.

Morris said he’s been working in hospitality in Wellington for 35 years and said the current period is as tough as he’s seen it since 2008.

“It’s a cyclical market, it’s boom and bust.”

Yu Group also plans to open a second Astoria at the Bowen Campus near Parliament, which he hopes to open by the end of March after the fit-out is finished and a liquor licence is granted.

The new venue will be named Little Astoria, Morris said.