About two-thirds of the debt was owed to a single unnamed secured creditor.
A large number of other creditors, mainly in Whangarei and Auckland, were owed a total of about $60,000.
Mr Peters said yesterday he had always worked hard to achieve quality and "something different".
"But at the end of the day there were not enough people spending enough money to make it a viable business any more.
"It's an economic thing. The lease was about to be up for another term and the way people are cutting back on spending we just couldn't commit to carrying on for another three years.
"I didn't want to downgrade what I was doing. A year ago bookings would regularly dictate that we increase the standard two sessions of a show to three and even four. Not any more.
"We had two or three fantastic years but the market has changed, it really has."
The liquidation takes away the cornerstone business of the 92-year old building and brings a boutique venue for top New Zealand acts to an abrupt end after nearly five years of trading.
Aucklander Mr Peters had previously managed a variety of restaurants, bars, clubs and pubs for other people. Liquidator Steve Bennett said a combination of factors including continuing recessionary conditions had prompted the decision to close.
He understood that Salut had been operating reasonably well until the Rugby World Cup when patronage went down. The assumption was that disposable income was being diverted to pay for RWC tickets.
Tributes have flowed on Mr Peters' energy and professionalism.
The closure shocked Damian Huston, a writer who worked in the Whangarei music industry for years, who says he had had one of his best nights ever at a sound system concert by the vocalists of nationally known band Sola Rosa at Salut on February 25.
"Salut was a smallish venue, but Sean made it work.
"It generated a vibrancy in that area of town. It bridged a gap between too small and too large. Before he came on the scene managers of acts would ring and ask for something Salut size and there wasn't anything so they either wouldn't come or they'd bypass Whangarei. It was a place for people who were reasonably mature, from the late-20s up, who wanted a good time and knew how to behave themselves. I must have been there 100 times for gigs but I never saw a fight. There never seemed to be any security - there didn't need to be."
Northland Chamber of Commerce CEO Tony Collins said Mr Peters had been "a stalwart of the hospitality industry" and said the demise of the business was a loss to the city on several levels.
"I want to thank him for everything he has done, in particular for the fantastic acts and shows that wouldn't have come to the north otherwise."
He said Mr Peters had developed a unique boutique venue in a heritage setting which had worked well for a whole range of events including corporate, charity and private.
"He made it a place for grown-ups to have fun. It's a loss," he said.
Veteran of the Whangarei music scene Dave Ryan said life in business was very tough currently, with hospitality and entertainment reeling. "This is sad - Sean tried so hard to help the entertainment scene in Whangarei, he did everything he could to keep entertainers and bands coming through."
As his website indicates the former owner may have run himself ragged keeping his "classic European-inspired, friendly, sophisticated bar and brasserie" interesting, with top live entertainment underpinned by Quiz Night Tuesdays, Friday After Work (with two guitarists), Live Jazz Sunday Afternoons, the Northern Jazz Club's monthly sessions, private functions, the bar and the restaurant, open every day of the week from 11am.
Mr Bennett says he knows of at least five other small restaurant/bars in the Whangarei CBD on the market.
"I wouldn't say they were in the same financial position as Salut was - not yet," he said.
He said he understood the owner of the building hoped to re-lease the premises as a restaurant/bar.
The Government sold the Public Trust building to Auckland developer Jerecevich Holdings in 1998, which developed the ground floor as a restaurant. Two restaurants had opened and closed in quick succession for financial and personal reasons before Mr Peters opened Salut in 2007 just as recession started to bite. Whangarei investor Neville Saunders bought the building for $1.5 million in 2010.
