Good George Napier Taphouse: Apology after knitting group told to rethink booking

A Napier bar has apologised after a knitting group was told to rethink their booking at the newly opened central city venue.

In a post on social media on Monday afternoon, The Knit Nook announced they were cancelling their Tuesday booking at Good George Napier Taphouse after a call from the bar’s staff informing them that “knitting is not the vibe we are going for”.

“If someone brought a deck of cards or a board game it would be seen as normal but because of their perception of who should be in a tap house we are not welcome to knit there so I cancelled our bookings. I don’t even know what to say other than knitters are magical and they can’t handle our awesomeness,” the post said.

Good George Napier Taphouse has apologised after a knitting group were told they weren't the 'vibe' the pub was looking for. Photo / NZME

In a statement posted on social media on Tuesday morning, Good George Napier Taphouse said it was a “mistake” to send the knitters away and the bar planned to review its booking policy.

“It was a mistake to turn them away and goes against The Napier Taphouse values and good old hospitality which we pride ourselves on. For this we are truly sorry,” the statement said.

“We are looking at our booking policy to ensure we eliminate this in the future.”

“Having only recently opened we have been overwhelmed by [the] support of people coming through our doors. As a result, our team have been run off their feet and we have made a big mistake in turning away this group.”

The statement said the bar had apologised directly to The Knit Nook.

“We would like to apologise to all of the members of the Knit Nook and make it clear that all groups of people are welcome at The Napier Taphouse.”

A spokesperson for The Knit Nook said on Tuesday the situation had been resolved and declined to comment further when approached by Hawke’s Bay Today.

“We have resolved it privately and I want to move on now,” they said.

The bar had earlier responded to The Knit Nook post on Monday afternoon, apologising and stating that they thought knitting was “cool” and “a great talent to have”.

“First and foremost it was never our intention to offend anyone and we apologise,” the post said.

The bar said there were several large groups booked for Tuesday and they did not think it was the right space for knitting.

“If there was dinner to be had by the group then we could’ve booked a space for them in an area but from what we were told it was just a drink and knitting and we only had bar stools available,” the post said.