Cheap pints wrest working men's club from liquidation

The 128-year-old Wellington Working Men's Club and Literary Institute has pulled off the rare feat of surviving a move to put it into liquidation.

Eight months after the deeply indebted club was put into the hands of a liquidator it is trading again and even pulling in new members looking for a cheap and quiet beer.

Among them is Adam Petty, a Victoria University commerce student who signed up with four of his mates last weekend.

"It's quite nice, a bit different, it's cheap and there's nice people," Mr Petty said.

The $5 sub was a bargain and so too were the pints at $3.50 - about half the price of other pubs.

Also pleased to see the club surviving was Ted Trotter, 81, who visits once a week for a few drinks.

Bruce McCallum, appointed interim liquidator in November, said the club had been saved thanks to its creditors, new management, a new board, and a slimmed-down operation.

As of this week it has been released from liquidation and is managed by Petone Working Men's Club.

Although it had relinquished its lease on the Rose & Crown Tavern, it retained proceeds from its pokie machines.

Long-term debt had been restructured and it had a new lease on its Cuba St premises. Unsecured creditors had agreed to settle for 25c in the dollar over the next two years rather than put the club under and get nothing.

Inland Revenue also agreed to a "very rare" debt write-off.

The club also had new gaming licences. Mr McCallum said the club hoped the Department of Internal Affairs would cancel inquiries into the operation of its old licences.

Internal Affairs spokesman Vince Cholewa said the club's new committee had been asked to see what happened to money missing from its gaming machine account and report back. The club was not under investigation.

Mr McCallum said the determination of a group of people to see the club would not go into liquidation was crucial. This included the landlord - the biggest creditor, being prepared to put more money in, the Petone club and the old executive, who accepted the need for a clean sweep by resigning.

- NZPA