Two Irish pubs in liquidation in Napier – one may reopen by St Patrick’s Day

Rosie O'Grady's Taradale has gone into liquidation and shut its doors but could re-open under new ownership. Photo / NZME

Publican Stefan Burt says a decision to put two of his Irish pubs in Napier into voluntary liquidation has been the result of “anything that can go wrong will go wrong”.

Rosie O’Grady’s Napier near Clive Square closed its doors and was placed in voluntary liquidation on February 9, followed by sister pub Rosie O’Grady’s Taradale last week.

A sale process is ongoing for the Taradale pub which could potentially re-open under new ownership in time for St Patrick’s Day (March 17) at the earliest.

That sale process is yet to be finalised but a deposit has been paid by the prospective buyer.

Burt also owns a third pub and business, Rosie O’Grady’s Hastings, which he said would remain open and was the group’s main “breadwinner”.

“It has been put under a bit of strain as well but I’m sure we can get through that,” Burt said.

“We are just retrenching into Hastings as a family and saying that is what we want to focus on.”

According to the first liquidator’s reports, Rosie O’Grady’s Taradale (HB Pub Company Ltd) and Rosie O’Grady’s Napier (HB Pub Company No 3 Ltd) owe over $500,000 each to creditors.

Most of that money is owed to Inland Revenue (IRD), including penalties, and the two pubs were operating since 2021 and late 2022 respectively.

Rosie O'Grady's Napier closed earlier this month near Clive Square in the Provincial Hotel building. Photo / Doug Laing

Some of the debt includes money advanced between the sister companies, Burt said.

“There is no money owed to the employees at all, they have all been paid.

“And pretty much all the trade creditors have been paid.

“So all the money owed is to IRD and to myself here in Hastings [as an associated company].”

Burt said navigating the impact of Covid and Cyclone Gabrielle on hospitality, among other issues, had taken its toll on running three pubs.

Stefan Burt has placed two of his pub businesses in voluntary liquidation. Photo / Warren Buckland

He said it had felt like “a comedy of anything that can go wrong will go wrong” since opening the first of the pubs in 2021.

“There is no secret that Napier was a struggle – we had delays, licencing issues, staffing issues, a cyclone, we had every type of thing.

“As a group we were trying to fund Napier, but January was a disaster so we just decided to basically call it quits and walk away from the losses, basically, and put it into liquidation.

“Then Taradale was our next one to say ‘well, it’s just too stressful, we are one owner-operator and we are trying to run two or three sites, it’s just impossible'.

“And we were watching Hastings, our big breadwinner, going backwards and so we made the decision.”

He said the Taradale venue deserved its own owner-operator to run it.

Rosie O’Grady’s Napier and Rosie O’Grady’s Taradale had about 10 staff between them before the liquidations.

Brent Dickins from C.S. Insolvency has been appointed liquidator.

There is also a Rosie O’Grady’s Irish Pub in Palmerston North, but that is separately owned.

Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.