Bar owners: Party HQ will hurt us

The fan zone at Queens Wharf is expected to be licensed to sell liquor, possibly between noon and midnight. Photo / Supplied

Struggling bars and restaurants believe the $23.4 million party central at Queens Wharf will be bad for business, says the Hospitality Association.

Northern regional manager Sara Tucker said the thousands of bars and restaurants in Auckland were looking forward to a boom during the Rugby World Cup after a couple of difficult years.

"There is quite a strong feeling by a lot of the industry that they don't want to see the Government and the council competing with them for the business," she said.

The "party central" at Queens Wharf will be one of five official fan zones in Auckland. The site of the others - in Waitakere, Manukau and the North Shore - will be announced next month.

Two or three of the fan zones, including Queens Wharf, are expected to be licensed to sell liquor, possibly between noon and midnight, a cup spokeswoman said.

After months of wrangling, Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully and Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee announced plans on Monday for a temporary steel, glass and plastic-roof structure at Queens Wharf for party central and as a temporary cruise ship terminal.

The estimated cost is $9.6 million - about a fifth of the $49.2 million cost of the permanent cruise ship terminal and party central venue rejected by the region's mayors in February.

The rest of the $23.4 million bill for the latest plan covers long-term landscaping and wharf strengthening.

Auckland City Mayor John Banks has come out strongly in support of the city's bars and restaurants, which he said had struggled to stay open.

"We must recognise that the celebrations for the Rugby World Cup won't be in a temporary structure on Queens Wharf," he said. "They will be on Ponsonby Rd, Kingsland, Parnell, Aotea Square, the Viaduct and across greater Auckland."

The owner of Auckland's Sale St and Chapel bar and bistro, Luke Dallow, said Mr Banks was right.

Bar and restaurant owners had provided the infrastructure and had the capacity to cope with the cup.

But Mr Dallow did not believe party central would take much business away from established bars and restaurants, whose owners had invested a lot of time and money.

He said he was planning events for his venues, including adopting a team and its supporters at Sale St, which has capacity for 700 people.

Paul Sissons, who owns the Bog Irish bar and restaurant on Parnell Rd, questioned why the Government was spending $1130 a head of taxpayers' money building party central when there were enough bars and sports clubs in Auckland capable of hosting visitors.

"I wouldn't mind that support from the Government for my business."

Newmarket Business Association chief executive Cameron Brewer said the growing hospitality sector in Newmarket was keen for a piece of the pie, particularly during the later stages of the cup, to attract diners on route to Eden Park for night matches.

"We don't want a repeat of the Lions Tour of 2005 when there was talk about benefit to the hospitality industry, but the delivery was poor," he said.