The Great New Zealand Road Trip: Wellington couple open pub on Cuba St despite retail closures

The NZ Herald and editor-at-large Shayne Currie are on a two-week road trip to gauge the mood of the nation and meet everyday and notable Kiwis making a difference in their communities and the wider world. Today he meets a business high-flyer who has transformed a South Island town. We also catch up with Simplicity founder and managing director Sam Stubbs for Nine Questions With... and Wellington senior reporter Georgina Campbell meets a young couple who have set up a Cuba St hotspot.

A Wellington couple’s new Cuba St pub is a vote of confidence in a city battling the nagging narrative that its golden age is over.

Victoria McDowall, 36, and Harry McArthur, 34, are blocking out that “noise” and reject the idea the capital is on death’s door.

“These things happen in waves,” McArthur said.

“Now there’s a new groundswell happening and the city’s about to be really cool again.”

“We’re trying to bring it back,” McDowall said.

The Ram opened in August and is now humming late into the night seven days a week. It’s located just up from the city’s iconic bucket fountain and right outside the tuatara sculpture that’s part of a small children’s playground in Cuba Mall.

The idea for the pub’s name goes all the way back to early 20th century London where McDowall’s great-grandparents owned a classic English pub called The Ram, which still exists today.

The Ram pub in London which was once owned by Victoria McDowall's great-grandparents. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A photo of it is framed in one of the bathrooms at the Cuba St site.

But the inspiration for the pub’s offering comes from across the ditch in Melbourne where McDowall is from and the couple met while working in hospitality

“It feels like New Zealand pubs are more focused on beer and sports,” McDowall said.

“Whereas in Australia it’s a bit more food focused at the pub, and culture, and just having a really welcoming warm relaxed space that people can come to.”

On the menu are dishes like chicken parmigiana for $30 (or eggplant for a vegetarian option), Sunday roasts, fresh oysters are $4 each during happy hour, and burrata with confit leek and chilli oil with grilled sourdough to share at $20.

Punters can find negronis on tap, interesting wines, and craft beer.

The Ram is the couple’s second business venture on Cuba St. In late 2021, fresh from returning to New Zealand after Covid-19, they opened Fred’s.

The interior of The Ram bar and restaurant in Cuba Mall. Photo / Mark Mitchell

They were told a sandwich shop would never work at that site, but Fred’s has successfully been serving up delicious sandwiches and coffee ever since.

McDowall and McArthur were considering opening a second Fred’s on Lambton Quay when the site that would eventually become The Ram became vacant.

“The space came first and the concept came second,” McDowall said.

They designed the fit-out themselves and helped build features like the bar and booths.

McDowall’s dad came over from Melbourne for five weeks to help and McArthur’s dad made trips up from Christchurch.

They stripped back the space, leaving only the mirrors, and worked from dawn until well into the night.

The result is a warm, sleek, and inviting pub with rich colours and a black and white checkerboard floor at the entrance.

“We just thought Wellington needed a good pub- a place where people could feel comfortable, and unpretentious, and nice and casual, where everything is done really well,” McArthur said.

The pub has opened against a backdrop of closures on Cuba St.

The Ram co-owner Harry McArthur pouring a negroni on tap. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Madame Fancy Pants, Rex Royale, V1 Vegan Store, Everyday Wine, Rough Peel Records and Carly Harris are all no longer.

Carly Harris said the business had operated there for about 20 years but could not survive Covid.

“Covid just wrecked us - it was the Government telling people to work from home. Customers would tell us ‘we’ve just not been into town for six months’,” she said.

Shayne Currie is travelling the country on the Herald’s Great New Zealand Road Trip. Read the full series here.

The Great New Zealand Road Trip heads to Palmerston North later today.

McArthur and McDowall said retail was a different market and the closure of these independent stores was sad.

But in terms of hospitality, they said the local scene was now regenerating itself after Covid-19.

They pointed to a new whisky bar that’s opened where Good Luck Bar used to be and a new wine bar that’s opened on Majoribanks St called Rosella.

The thing the couple love most about Wellington is the city’s proximity to nature and the overwhelming support they have received from the local hospitality community.

“We moved over here knowing all of two people and now it feels like we have lifelong friends. We’re getting married next year and they’re all invited to our wedding now,” McArthur said.

They have many other business ideas in the pipeline they hope to bring to fruition but for now, they are taking a little break and enjoying what they have achieved with Fred’s and now The Ram.

“So down the track, watch this space,” McDowall said.

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.