Just days after the Warriors lost their NRL season-opening match against the Cronulla Sharks, the club ended their search for a venue they are set to turn into a Wahs-themed bar.
Aside from a marquee location in Auckland, club management also had plans to partner with several pubs around the country - on a licensed basis - to extend the Warriors’ commercial footprint in each region.
It’s reported the location for the bar is Auckland’s Kingsland - smack in rugby territory - with the Holy Hop as the venue. Inland Revenue applied to liquidate Holy Hop last September.
When the Herald revealed the plan, Warriors chief executive Cameron George said: “I feel we could fit quite well into the hospitality space with our brand and our unique offering, with fans and members and the general public.
“Most importantly, we are looking to diversify our business — not just being reliant on the NRL for funding and the like.”
George said the club was trying to be “smarter” in the way it generated future revenue.
But within hours of the reported purchase of Holy Hop, the investment was labelled as anything as smart by one of New Zealand’s most well-known hospitality industry figures.
Nick Mills - a Newstalk ZB host - has seen countless hospitality businesses open to much fanfare and then close in financial ruin over his four decades in the industry.
Mills pulled no punches, saying the club was “opening yourself up for a problem” and citing several factors.
Almost 30 years on from their debut match in 1995, the Warriors are preparing to open a club-themed bar. Photo / Photosport
Maybe 20 per cent of bars in New Zealand were doing “extremely well”. And they were run by an owner-operator, who typically did the cleaning first thing in the morning, through to doing lock-up in the early hours.
It also comes at a time when links between sporting organisations and booze sponsors or outlets are increasingly criticised.
He said, “alcohol and sports teams... equals a problem”. The venue also had the potential to get headlines after bar brawls.
The location of a Warriors-themed pub is a short walk away from the spiritual home of New Zealand rugby, Eden Park.
Unfortunately in society today, there is also the presence of bumped-up drinkers wanting to be a “hero” and have a crack at high-profile people in public.
Most telling, Mills urged the club management to “concentrate on your knitting”; that was creating a premiership-winning team - something the Warriors have never been able to do since their debut in 1995.
The Warriors did so much good in 2023 - both on the field and community-wise on their return post-Covid - and it would be gutting for its fans if that gloss was undone via a shift into the booze industry.
