Long-awaited Burrows Cellars set to open this month

The Burrows Cellars wine bar will be located in the Johnstone & Co building.

The Burrows Cellars wine bar on the banks of the Whanganui River is set to open its doors - a summer later than originally planned.

Owner Annette Jones said she was excited to finally get the project over the line.

Progress was slowed by unforeseen plumbing and building work.

“We’ve just had a nice, long build-up to get everybody interested,” she said.

“Our vision has stayed the same. The only thing we’ve changed is bringing more New Zealand wines into the equation.

“Initially, I was thinking just French, Spanish, Italian.”

Jones said there would be 50 wines on the menu, which had been put together with the help of Whanganui “wine geek” Joamari van der Walt of Joa’s Wines.

People had shown a lot of interest, with many remembering good times during “the Vega days”, she said.

Vega was a restaurant and bar that filled the space in the 2000s.

“It’s that age group that is looking forward to this the most, I think.”

The Burrows Cellars will be open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 4pm until late.

Its official opening date is October 17.

“We don’t know how late people will come out, and we need to be mindful that if there’s something on at the Opera House or in town and it’s quiet between 7pm and 9pm, you don’t want to shut the doors because people might want to do something afterwards,” Jones said.

“That’s where I think we need that crossover. A lot of friends go out to dinner and feel like they’ve been shuffled out.”

Jones, who also operates The Burrow delicatessen, The Burrow Select and beauty clinic Skin Lab, said the bar would also serve late-night coffee: “It doesn’t have to be a wine or port to end the night.”

She said the deck overlooking the river was licensed until 11.30pm but the bar area could comfortably hold around 30 people.

‘We’ve brought on a couple of new staff to add to our mix and we probably will need a couple more as time goes on.

“To start with, I’m going to be in there fulltime.”

The Burrow takes up the bottom floor of the Johnstone & Co building on the corner of Victoria Avenue and Taupō Quay - next to the Whanganui City Bridge.

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.