SPQR closure: Legendary restaurant felled by all-too-familiar forces – Editorial

The sun sets on Ponsonby Rd restaurant institution SPQR after liquidators were appointed to the business. It is no longer trading. Photo / Alex Burton

Editorial

THREE KEY FACTS

• Ponsonby eatery SPQR has closed its doors after 32 years.
• Co-liquidator Stephen Lawrence says the hospitality sector is still feeling the impacts of the Covid pandemic and facing increased overheads and higher costs for supplies.
• Early results from the Restaurant Association’s most recent survey show 50% of Auckland businesses and 35% of businesses nationwide reported their revenue as significantly worse than last year.

EDITORIAL

“There is nothing permanent except change,” Greek philosopher Heraclitus said.

It was an Auckland dining icon named not after Ancient Greece, but that of Rome, that last week showed this 2500-year-old adage still rings true.

After 32 years of serving target="_blank">diners on Ponsonby Rd, the restaurant SPQR has closed its doors.

A landmark of the stylish strip, diners have included everyone from Sir Mick Jagger and Duran Duran to Sally Ridge, and long lunches – which often turned into late dinners – have shaped many memories for Aucklanders and visitors.

Sally Ridge and daughter Jaime being filmed at SPQR, 2012. Photo / Doug Sherring

Viva dining out editor Jesse Mulligan said on Friday: “Was the food any good? Well yes, but for the past decade or so that hasn’t even been in the top three reasons to book a table at SPQR. Auckland had nothing else like those outdoor tables, which were both a front-row seat to watch the people of Ponsonby Rd and, more importantly, a place to be watched yourself.

“You would technically book for lunch but it was more about the long hours afterwards bleeding into twilight. We will never know how many TV shows, real estate deals and extra-marital affairs were commissioned at those tables and that’s probably a good thing.

For all of its glittering reputation, SPQR was felled by forces that seem all too familiar to the hospitality industry.

The sector was still feeling the impacts of the Covid pandemic and facing increased overheads and higher costs for supplies, co-liquidator Stephen Lawrence told the Herald.

Given New Zealand was in the economic doldrums, people were spending less dining out, he said.

Chris Rupe, owner of SPQR Restaurant in Ponsonby, pictured in April 2020 when he was one of many feeling the effects of Covid. Photo / Dean Purcell.

Food writer Simon Farrell-Green said a decade ago that “SPQR has become a barometer of the city. So often you realise the city is in a subdued mood when SPQR is quiet”.

And indeed, it isn’t the only restaurant that is hurting.

Preliminary results from the Restaurant Association’s most recent quarterly membership survey, collated on Friday, showed that 50% of Auckland businesses and 35% of businesses nationwide reported their revenue as significantly worse than last year. Additionally, 56% of Auckland businesses and 50% of businesses nationwide cited managing the customer downturn as the single biggest issue they were facing.

The hospitality sector is still feeling the impacts of the Covid pandemic, an SPQR co-liquidator said. Photo / Natalie Slade

Running a business is often difficult in the best of times and we’ve already had multiple household names call time in the frigid economic winds of 2024.

What these closures and SPQR’s demise shows is that if customers want local businesses to survive, they need to ensure they spend the discretionary income they have at them.

That’s the same message that SPQR’s owner Chris Rupe had on Friday: “Please spread your patronage around other locally owned hospo businesses and show your support for the challenging but highly rewarding job they do.”