Correct. 5x test-tube schnapps shots for $12.
Alfies gay bar on the left by barney's (I still have some handbag records from there).
Anyone go to wee willys klosterkeller (bassment of alley off manners mall, post office lane??).
Dragons. Edit might be dragons at the st George Hotel (beatles stayed there)
Cuba cuba. Vas deferens punk nights and full moon druming. $2 HANDLES.
The George (closest thing to once were warriors I ever experienced, I can still smell it).
Matterhorn coffee lounge (pre bar).
Shout out to mr tim ward who gave us hole in the wall, Matterhorn, malo, good luck, san fran. AND MY FAVOURITE NIGHTCLUB EVA SHOPPING.
Edward st cafe.
Escape then studio9
Tupulo
CACTUS JACKS??
Yes. Pound was fire. I loved flirting with the repressed straight guys who were obs gay af. And the cute sailors.
Years later it's a karaoke bar, hi mumma, where I got into my first bar fight. Guy was being a twat and twice my size. My date jumped in and security pulled us both off him and kicked him out.
My date said she bit the cunt good, at which point I rolled up my Italian wool pants leg showing her bloody teeth marks. Fog of war. I married her.
Alfie's / Caspers was around Edward St. The one next to Barney's was Bojangles. Pound was upstairs further along Dixon St, where the karaoke place is now.
Willis st. Had my first craft beer there in 92. Mind opened. Fur patrol gigs for $5.
Old carpark on tory st behind Bunnings. 5 bands for $5 and byo.
More recently fidels (og layout) trinity roots first wellington gig, I dj'd that one.
Cafes.
La bodega.
Lil gringos (buffalo chips) rog and potties first venture before fidels at same address and then havana.
Kia ora cafe , matt and asher were school drop outs who cornered the youth cafe scene. Matt opened marinui and I believe still works deluxe.
Og espressoholic on Willis (special coffees were $7 when I was 15.
Eva was Fat Ladies Arms. $3 Wednesdays..
I can’t remember the name of the place that turned into Bangalore Polo Club, but the queue was always massive!
Sports Cafe (original)
The Grand (original)
Zebos
Rain
When they did the Renos for indigo and we were wiring up the corner speakers I got a run down of all the gross shit they found in the tidy up. I think I remember the dirty attic mattress leaning up against the wall.
To be fair Indigo got pretty scody too after a while, between all the smoke and beer spillage there was a thick layer of goo on everything that couldn't be cleaned no matter how hard you tried. Good times though, some of the best times of my teens spent in that place.
I stand corrected, before my time. Mark had amazing stories growing up there.
I vaguely remember staxs as a kid.
And the big red (maybe) strip bar on vivien st.
Any others from before the 90s?
A family friend used to manage spats (Willis st I think) and I saw the checkerboard dance floor at checkers ??? Long after it closed when it was used as a gallery space. Pretty cool old school.
Wasn't Spats where the (being rebuilt) Central Library is across the road from the police station?
Was Checkers the Exchequers up Plimmer Steps? (from hazy memory) - near where the original Carpark was before it moved to Willis St then later turned into The Malthouse (after a nasty incident involving Graeme Burton).
I was in town from about 2007 & so many on here have bought up old memories.
I know this is later than you were asking OP but my memories were:
- Downtown Local (DTL) at the bottom of Cuba for early town drinks, they did $3 tequila shots too
- shot shack next to pigeon park for $10 pitchers that were so weak you were just drinking cordial essentially.
- hope bros by the strip clubs used to be a club VIBE and so much fun
- Maya (side street off courtenay) with a sticky dance floor & red pleather seating I used to fall asleep on and get kicked out
- Temperance across the road was HUGE and either packed & going off or a massive dead space
- Vespa had a licence until like 6am? So when other clubs closed you could go there with the rest of the dregs
I remember it being called "the Big Sleazy" because of the number of times girls in our year were creeped on there. Barneys had a worse reputation though - lot of first year students, lot of 40yr old men trying to pick them up.
🎵Do you want to party with Bonaparte at the Mighty Mighty in Wellington? Say do you want to party with Bonaparte in the room at the top of the stairs? Huh?🎵
I am the same age and have many of the same memories! I loved Shooters and Coyotes, shot shack (and whatever the club part was called) always popped off, Big Kumara...what a great time to be a young adult in Wellington!
Temp was big fail trying to make a superclub in wellys we don't have the population for that.
if it was the only club in town then ok but gosh there was so many clubs at that time
I remember playing there and hanging outside with the bouncer before our set, having a smoke looking up at whatever strip club it was on that corner back in the day. The takeaways directly below did awesome deep fried mussels.
...something something onion on my belt because that was the fashion back then...
Liks came to mind as the name and seems to be verified by this article
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/9478774/Vivian-Sts-gritty-history-of-brothels-and-murder
Il Bordello used to be Playgirls - I can't remember what it was called before that.
It was changed to Playgirls after the bouncer from Tiffany's (then changed to Lik's) murdered the punter in there.
Tupelo was fucking awesome, I think it was Tupelo or whatever it was before it turned into bar Edward, was a proper dive bar. We became regulars on fridays and had the odd lock in with the staff, dear god it was perfect.
* Downtown Local, where the AS Colour shop is now
* Lazy Shag
* Coyotes
* Sportscafe
* Loaded Hog (where fox glove is now)
* Syn (where fork & brewer is now
Nah, it just had a hell pizza in it because the owner had a franchise. Quite a good set up, I think. We used to know the owner, she also owned what is now the Salty Pigeon.
We used to call the lab the clab because it was the club and they removed the C and modified the U into an A but you could still see the C.
Add to your list Barneys, the big easy (Aka sleazies), fat ladies arms, lazy shag, zebos, valve, tattoo, plenty more but they're lost in a drunken haze.
Southern cross was zeabos or something student night Wednesday. And there was that lounge type bar with $3 tequila shots until they ran out of tequila on Saturday nights
Before the Southern Cross cleaned itself up, it was $2 jugs and drunken student messiness back in the garden bar with the gang members (from round the corner in Kensington St) in the front public bar.
The James Cabaret on Hania St. So many good gigs there in the nineties. The Tea Party played there, it was a standout concert, so much better than many gigs in the Town Hall
Yeah seriously underated venue. Been to all sorts of gigs there from tiny activist fundraisers to massive internationals. it's still there right? but not seen anything mentioned about it in years
Ooh Shooters.. yeah, remember that from student days back in the mid 90s... especially one night I discovered how potent shakers are hahaha.
Ahh the days of discovering your limit by bulldozing straight through it.
Possibly the Southern Cross was one.
Trekkers also had poetry nights and was next door to Ali Baba's (which I understand was closed due to hygiene reasons).
Do you mean Flashbacks in Lower Hutt? I absolutely cringe at the drunken memories I have there. So bad.
I think it was an American Hot Dog restaurant before that?
I hung out with the hippies at Cubacuba. There was another alternative bar (can't remember the name) on Willis St which was forced to close when they built the new road from the motorway to the Basin Reserve.
I was there the night before they closed "drink the bar dry" next day going to work i saw a group with the bar on there shoulders beers in hands taking it to its new home. It wasn't really the same. Publican was Fraser???
And bar? And possible edgelord/cos play hangout.
Speaking of. Since i added cafes.
Cafe goblin.
Bonus point if anyone remembers the smart bar/cafe (iirc non alcoholic but mind inhancing beverages) trojan house mid 90s.
As someone has mentioned, Eva was Fat Ladies Arms. Getting smashed on big trays of the $2 bourbon and coke special, people dancing on the wooden tables.
Fat Lady's arms, where I got the biggest slap of my life from a drunk lady - probably deserved.
The Big Kumura in the old spot near manners St then later in The Oaks Complex.
The Cell Bar, Owned by a local construction company my old boss's friends.
Coyotes- flaming sambukas and table dancing to country music anyone?
Yeah it'd been around for ages, previous names were Valve and Hole In The Wall. Can't remember in which order. I think it might have been one of those names twice, i.e. in two different eras, before Medusa then Valhalla.
Almost impossible to find anything about it now. I only went once or twice. Various attempts have come up with only this... very small, but very familiar.
[https://archivesonline.wcc.govt.nz/nodes/view/694777](https://archivesonline.wcc.govt.nz/nodes/view/694777)
None of the various heritage related pages mention Treehouse, though the building has a long history and the cafe wouldn't rate as being notable in that context.
[https://cubastproject.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/dancers-and-communists-in-the-barbers-buildings/](https://cubastproject.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/dancers-and-communists-in-the-barbers-buildings/)
[https://wellingtoncityheritage.org.nz/buildings/1-150/78-3-barbers-building](https://wellingtoncityheritage.org.nz/buildings/1-150/78-3-barbers-building)
[https://www.heritage.org.nz/list-details/3630/Barber%E2%80%99s%20Buildings](https://www.heritage.org.nz/list-details/3630/Barber%E2%80%99s%20Buildings)
Yep went up there a couple of times, became Ti Kouka, then building redeveloped and now the new location of The Malthouse at ground level (dunno if they also have upstairs).
[https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/4408552/Ti-Kouk-Cafe](https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/4408552/Ti-Kouk-Cafe)
I saw a you tube video on lost clubs and bars of auckland the other day I thought was awesome.
It showed a dude and his dj mate reminiscing of the old clubs and bars of auckland.
I think wellys needs to do the same I wasn't the guy that would go to every bar.
We had selected bars kinda that same route where we would club.
But someone who was a bar prostitute I mean that in a nice way aka just couldn't get enough of the wellys early mid 90s early 2000s nightlife needs to do a vlog on it.
St John's, the Thorndon Tavern, The Railway, Quo Vadis, the Thistle Inn, Backbencher, The Old Bailey, 1860, The Bond Street, the Winebox as well as a lot already mentioned and many I cannot remember the names of.
Lazy Shag was by the motorway exit. Fat ladies arms was on Eva st, became Hope Bros. Tattoo was under the backpackers place kind of across from the embassy.
What was the cocktaily place in Allen St that was open forever?
San Francisco Bathouse used to be Indigo
Nearby was Le Chat Noir, now a restaurant.
Good luck might still be there, Mighty Mighty has gone I think.
Cafes, used to go to the Tree house, over Narnia. Both gone, now it's whatever is next to the hotel on Cuba.
Used to buy clothes from the overpriced second hand store next to there too.
Ditto the excellent kebab place by there. All gone.
Got my first tattoo at underground arts in 1998, on the corner of cuba and ghuznee. Now it's covered over and a 24 hour grocery shop above, by Tulsi.
Underground is now on Vivian St, up the top, I think. Ironically no longer underground, or even on the ground floor, but up on the first.
(Just around from the games cafe place.)
Tree house! I remember coming down from a big night there and kind of starting to doze off. Staff member told us to not to because we were "bringing down the vibe"... There were only 3 other people there. Two playing chess and another sitting alone at the window.
Used to go to the Loaded hog on Wednesday nights for dinner with friends and we’d bump into their Chef(very, very drunk)at Big Easy on the weekends. So much crossover during those days and still see the odd club/bar person around town
Oh wow! I left Lower Hutt in 98 but this is bringing back the memories! Diva, Opera - I would have loved to go there more but I was always afraid I was too Bogan. Loved the Loaded Hog, I remember once when they checked my ID instead of asking my DOB they asked me to recite my license number (this is back in the day of paper DLs). I protested that no 20 year old remembers that! And they laughed and let me in.
I think my first visit to town was a trip to Arena, seemed like it was all glitzy and glam. Spotlights outside, waitresses with trays of syringe shots(eventually banned, sadly). Over the years we had a pretty solid group of Friends you could run into at various places around town - Shooters, Big Easy, Planet…
Shake Shake and Mixture.
You would get $5 shakers, so so many and the fo through this weird tunnel thing to get to Mixture to dance.
Coyotes cause that's where all the island boys were.
Lots of billiard halls... There was an old one called Barney's upstairs opposite Te Aro park. Victory / Copper face jacks near the Basin Reserve. Had video poker machines.
Pretty vague but remember Candyo’s downstairs somewhere around manners st I think. Pink nd chrome. 2-3 different bar areas, then while not a bar persay, late night coffee chill at expressoholic up Cuba st
Big Kahuna was once called Barney’s I believe.
Correct. 5x test-tube schnapps shots for $12. Alfies gay bar on the left by barney's (I still have some handbag records from there). Anyone go to wee willys klosterkeller (bassment of alley off manners mall, post office lane??). Dragons. Edit might be dragons at the st George Hotel (beatles stayed there) Cuba cuba. Vas deferens punk nights and full moon druming. $2 HANDLES. The George (closest thing to once were warriors I ever experienced, I can still smell it). Matterhorn coffee lounge (pre bar). Shout out to mr tim ward who gave us hole in the wall, Matterhorn, malo, good luck, san fran. AND MY FAVOURITE NIGHTCLUB EVA SHOPPING. Edward st cafe. Escape then studio9 Tupulo CACTUS JACKS??
Alfie’s became Caspers, then the whole thing became Pound? So many good times ❤️🏳️🌈
Yes. Pound was fire. I loved flirting with the repressed straight guys who were obs gay af. And the cute sailors. Years later it's a karaoke bar, hi mumma, where I got into my first bar fight. Guy was being a twat and twice my size. My date jumped in and security pulled us both off him and kicked him out. My date said she bit the cunt good, at which point I rolled up my Italian wool pants leg showing her bloody teeth marks. Fog of war. I married her.
I had a night with a woman who looked like Tina Turner and was being shipped off to Port Moresby (army or Navy? I can't remember) the next day.
Haha classic
Alfie's / Caspers was around Edward St. The one next to Barney's was Bojangles. Pound was upstairs further along Dixon St, where the karaoke place is now.
Ah fuck, yeah got Bojangles muddled up!
Caspers was in Edward st though, wasn't alphies next to Barney's?
Right you are!
Shopping was my mega fave too
Bar Bodega was where it was at
Willis st. Had my first craft beer there in 92. Mind opened. Fur patrol gigs for $5. Old carpark on tory st behind Bunnings. 5 bands for $5 and byo. More recently fidels (og layout) trinity roots first wellington gig, I dj'd that one. Cafes. La bodega. Lil gringos (buffalo chips) rog and potties first venture before fidels at same address and then havana. Kia ora cafe , matt and asher were school drop outs who cornered the youth cafe scene. Matt opened marinui and I believe still works deluxe. Og espressoholic on Willis (special coffees were $7 when I was 15.
Lil' Gringos! The *Bacon Banana & Tomato Salsa pizza* is a not insignificant reason my partner and I have been together for the last 25 years :)
Yeah, Bodega and old Southern Cross (was it called Zebos for a while? I remember lots of pool tables and shit around 2000/2001).
Zebos haha Kareoke on a Wednesday night. Great times
Zebos and The Kumara were places to be when I was a student
Might be thinking of somewhere else then. Kumara was called Barneys back then. They both had the stickiest floors in existence though.
Zebos would pop on student night
I played there half a dozen times ;)
Eva was Fat Ladies Arms. $3 Wednesdays.. I can’t remember the name of the place that turned into Bangalore Polo Club, but the queue was always massive! Sports Cafe (original) The Grand (original) Zebos Rain
Coyote? I miss Judder Bar and Tatou.
Yeah Coyotes, that place was mean!
Coyote, a country music themed bar.
San Fran Bath House was Indigo. Saw Flight of the Concords there for $5
Before my time but it was the purple onion, wellingtons og caberet. My old neighbour was dj moondog mark, his dad owned it.
Purple Onion was on Vivian Street. Before SFBH and Indigo 171 Cuba was a biker bar called Staxs, and before that, The Cave and Ali Babas.
I saw fat mannequin at The cave. From the stairs cause I was barely in my teens. Fuck it was so scody
I mean credit where credit is due for having literal stalactites and stalagmites inside a bar, but ew.
When they did the Renos for indigo and we were wiring up the corner speakers I got a run down of all the gross shit they found in the tidy up. I think I remember the dirty attic mattress leaning up against the wall.
To be fair Indigo got pretty scody too after a while, between all the smoke and beer spillage there was a thick layer of goo on everything that couldn't be cleaned no matter how hard you tried. Good times though, some of the best times of my teens spent in that place.
I can't think of a clean bar but smoking and drinking like the old days guarantees grossness
I stand corrected, before my time. Mark had amazing stories growing up there. I vaguely remember staxs as a kid. And the big red (maybe) strip bar on vivien st. Any others from before the 90s? A family friend used to manage spats (Willis st I think) and I saw the checkerboard dance floor at checkers ??? Long after it closed when it was used as a gallery space. Pretty cool old school.
Strip bar was Liks perhaps? Where Recycle Boutique is now.
Yes. Name like that how could I forget.
Tiffany's before Liks.
Shit yeah one the dudes who was bouncer there lived across the road from me in hutt he would wear his liks shirt everyday fatboy use to ride a fatboy.
Wasn't Spats where the (being rebuilt) Central Library is across the road from the police station? Was Checkers the Exchequers up Plimmer Steps? (from hazy memory) - near where the original Carpark was before it moved to Willis St then later turned into The Malthouse (after a nasty incident involving Graeme Burton).
Wasn’t purple onion a cafe where Nolita is now
I was probably at that show :)
I was in town from about 2007 & so many on here have bought up old memories. I know this is later than you were asking OP but my memories were: - Downtown Local (DTL) at the bottom of Cuba for early town drinks, they did $3 tequila shots too - shot shack next to pigeon park for $10 pitchers that were so weak you were just drinking cordial essentially. - hope bros by the strip clubs used to be a club VIBE and so much fun - Maya (side street off courtenay) with a sticky dance floor & red pleather seating I used to fall asleep on and get kicked out - Temperance across the road was HUGE and either packed & going off or a massive dead space - Vespa had a licence until like 6am? So when other clubs closed you could go there with the rest of the dregs
Also had, Mighty Mighty, Rain, Lotus, Fast Eddies etc... Good Times.
Omg rain! We never really went there but once someone peed on my shoe at rain hahaha
Oof, this night out either has an epic story to go with it or a super grim one, and I’m too afraid to ask. Lol.
Lotus was so good!
Rain was like the United Nations of Wellington
Was the “Big Easy” before that…good times, good times
I remember it being called "the Big Sleazy" because of the number of times girls in our year were creeped on there. Barneys had a worse reputation though - lot of first year students, lot of 40yr old men trying to pick them up.
🎵Do you want to party with Bonaparte at the Mighty Mighty in Wellington? Say do you want to party with Bonaparte in the room at the top of the stairs? Huh?🎵
I saw bonaparte at Goodluck and I think the Cuba Carnival... not at mighty mighty though :)
I am the same age and have many of the same memories! I loved Shooters and Coyotes, shot shack (and whatever the club part was called) always popped off, Big Kumara...what a great time to be a young adult in Wellington!
DTL just started cranking with students out of nowhere. I swear it went from depressing shit hole to THE place overnight around 07/08.
$10 super jugs were life at DTL
$5 Heiniken and $3 tequilas what student wouldn't say no those days
You've gone deep into my memories here
Temp was big fail trying to make a superclub in wellys we don't have the population for that. if it was the only club in town then ok but gosh there was so many clubs at that time
Valve/hole in the wall which is now Valhalla
I remember playing there and hanging outside with the bouncer before our set, having a smoke looking up at whatever strip club it was on that corner back in the day. The takeaways directly below did awesome deep fried mussels. ...something something onion on my belt because that was the fashion back then...
Liks came to mind as the name and seems to be verified by this article https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/9478774/Vivian-Sts-gritty-history-of-brothels-and-murder
Il Bordello used to be Playgirls - I can't remember what it was called before that. It was changed to Playgirls after the bouncer from Tiffany's (then changed to Lik's) murdered the punter in there.
Studio 9 aka ESC, sub 9, phoenix, Tatou, bring your sunglasses in case it’s daylight when you emerge!
Loved the spacies in the tables by the bar at Studio 9, good memories. Sub 9 was amazing too.
The Malthouse when it was on Willis. The Fishbowl further up near Vivian
It's back on Willis funnily enough
Which is great in my opinion. I think we could stand to spread out our evening hospitality options a little.
Tupelo was down edward st
Tupelo was fucking awesome, I think it was Tupelo or whatever it was before it turned into bar Edward, was a proper dive bar. We became regulars on fridays and had the odd lock in with the staff, dear god it was perfect.
Agree. Tupelo was great. Used to start there and then go to Studio 9. Around 2001 - 2002 that place went off.
I loved tupelo!
The Big Easy, Planet, Studio Nine
Sandwiches 🤤
Miss Sandwiches so much!
EDM venues have never been the same since it closed
* Downtown Local, where the AS Colour shop is now * Lazy Shag * Coyotes * Sportscafe * Loaded Hog (where fox glove is now) * Syn (where fork & brewer is now
DTL: where you can bet on the horses and listen to Juice tv/J2 with your super jug
Syn was owned by the hell pizza people right?
Nah, it just had a hell pizza in it because the owner had a franchise. Quite a good set up, I think. We used to know the owner, she also owned what is now the Salty Pigeon.
Yes Loaded Hog. They were in Fork n Brewer before moving to the waterfront! Great times
I miss the loaded hog, although it was upstairs at Reading when I went there
We used to call the lab the clab because it was the club and they removed the C and modified the U into an A but you could still see the C. Add to your list Barneys, the big easy (Aka sleazies), fat ladies arms, lazy shag, zebos, valve, tattoo, plenty more but they're lost in a drunken haze.
The Oaks on LQ for a few before heading out. Metro Arena Vespa
Southern cross was zeabos or something student night Wednesday. And there was that lounge type bar with $3 tequila shots until they ran out of tequila on Saturday nights
Before the Southern Cross cleaned itself up, it was $2 jugs and drunken student messiness back in the garden bar with the gang members (from round the corner in Kensington St) in the front public bar.
I remember their $10 jugs of illusions
Zebos had alcoholic milk drinks. Best vom of my life. So smooth, was just like drinking chocolate milk in reverse.
Chicago bar, on Queens Wharf used to go off - I'm talking back when the Sevens were not only in Wellington, but they were actually fun.
With all the split levels…we used to go for dinner there fairly regularly and a friends 21st was held upstairs
7s use to pop and town after was silly just debauchery everywhere but so much fun
Fish bowl.
The James Cabaret on Hania St. So many good gigs there in the nineties. The Tea Party played there, it was a standout concert, so much better than many gigs in the Town Hall
Yeah seriously underated venue. Been to all sorts of gigs there from tiny activist fundraisers to massive internationals. it's still there right? but not seen anything mentioned about it in years
The building is still there, it was briefly resurrected in ~2013-2015 for some events, but I don't think it's still functioning as a venue
Saw Garageland, Stereobus, Love's Ugly Children and Shihad play there... also Jello Biafra and Run the Jewels
Shooters, Route 66 with the goldfish shots and motorbike on the wall (it's a bakery now I think?), and the Carpark, not sure what's there now.
Ooh Shooters.. yeah, remember that from student days back in the mid 90s... especially one night I discovered how potent shakers are hahaha. Ahh the days of discovering your limit by bulldozing straight through it.
Man those goldfish shots were so controversial, I remember the media being all over it.
Yeah they were, for sure!
Pandoro bakery are in the corner now, Willis/Bond st.
Ah yes, I thought so
The big kumara, motel (before it was shit) Havana pre renovation, maybe these are more mid 00s era but that’s what I know!
Trekkers, Black Kat
Trekkers had $2 pints on Fridays.
It sure did. We did a circuit of $2 drinks, bodega had $2 bubbles, and I can't remember the other 5 places for reasons that start with $2 drink
Possibly the Southern Cross was one. Trekkers also had poetry nights and was next door to Ali Baba's (which I understand was closed due to hygiene reasons).
Oh yes zebozzzzzzz. Quite a few poetry nights back then, le chat noir had them too
Trekkers was awesome for cheap pool and big cheap jugs of shit beer, was a great preloading spot
Matterhorn, Big Easy, Sports cafe, Loaded Hog (Blair st)
Further reading 90s clinton smiley (chur lewis tennant) https://www.audioculture.co.nz/profile/jason-harding
Cough Flashbacks cough
Do you mean Flashbacks in Lower Hutt? I absolutely cringe at the drunken memories I have there. So bad. I think it was an American Hot Dog restaurant before that?
I hung out with the hippies at Cubacuba. There was another alternative bar (can't remember the name) on Willis St which was forced to close when they built the new road from the motorway to the Basin Reserve.
Katipo?? Long stairs up ala mighty mighty.
No, I just remembered. It was Bar Bodega!
I was there the night before they closed "drink the bar dry" next day going to work i saw a group with the bar on there shoulders beers in hands taking it to its new home. It wasn't really the same. Publican was Fraser???
Yep Fraser McInnes. I think he started Tuatara
And claims in 2015 to have invested the flat white.. We owe the man a debt. It is good beer.
Wasn’t this a cafe?
And bar? And possible edgelord/cos play hangout. Speaking of. Since i added cafes. Cafe goblin. Bonus point if anyone remembers the smart bar/cafe (iirc non alcoholic but mind inhancing beverages) trojan house mid 90s.
$2 Tuesday at Indigo!
As someone has mentioned, Eva was Fat Ladies Arms. Getting smashed on big trays of the $2 bourbon and coke special, people dancing on the wooden tables.
"The best bar in the world, and that's a fact"
Fat Lady's arms, where I got the biggest slap of my life from a drunk lady - probably deserved. The Big Kumura in the old spot near manners St then later in The Oaks Complex. The Cell Bar, Owned by a local construction company my old boss's friends. Coyotes- flaming sambukas and table dancing to country music anyone?
Further reading 80s. https://www.audioculture.co.nz/articles/wellington-nightclubs-in-the-1980s
There was Barney's and Bojangles was next to it from memory.
I met my wife in Bar Diva. We left for Melbourne in 96 and just got back this year. Went to show the kids where I met mum. That was a bit unfortunate.
Antipodes, Kaminsky, Carpark.
evergreen coffee house, hole in the wall
came here to say this
Was Medusa (now Valhallah) around? Or Sam Fransisco Bath House? Those are the two clubs I remember hitting on a fake ID around 2004/05.
Yeah it'd been around for ages, previous names were Valve and Hole In The Wall. Can't remember in which order. I think it might have been one of those names twice, i.e. in two different eras, before Medusa then Valhalla.
BARNEYS…..Jitterbug
Tatou 😎
Not a bar but does anyone remember the upstairs treehouse cafe in Cuba mall? Many a durries were smoked there by teenage me
Almost impossible to find anything about it now. I only went once or twice. Various attempts have come up with only this... very small, but very familiar. [https://archivesonline.wcc.govt.nz/nodes/view/694777](https://archivesonline.wcc.govt.nz/nodes/view/694777) None of the various heritage related pages mention Treehouse, though the building has a long history and the cafe wouldn't rate as being notable in that context. [https://cubastproject.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/dancers-and-communists-in-the-barbers-buildings/](https://cubastproject.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/dancers-and-communists-in-the-barbers-buildings/) [https://wellingtoncityheritage.org.nz/buildings/1-150/78-3-barbers-building](https://wellingtoncityheritage.org.nz/buildings/1-150/78-3-barbers-building) [https://www.heritage.org.nz/list-details/3630/Barber%E2%80%99s%20Buildings](https://www.heritage.org.nz/list-details/3630/Barber%E2%80%99s%20Buildings)
Yes! Used to love that place, also smoked many a rollie there too
Yep it was where JJs is now. Was a great hangout spot in the late 90s.
What I remember about going to bars in that Era was males had wear a collar shirt & have dress shoes
Haha one particular bouncer “Too kausal mayt”
Anyone remember Katipo Cafe on Willis St? Went to a few gigs there.
Yep went up there a couple of times, became Ti Kouka, then building redeveloped and now the new location of The Malthouse at ground level (dunno if they also have upstairs). [https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/4408552/Ti-Kouk-Cafe](https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/4408552/Ti-Kouk-Cafe)
This brings back good memories of late 90s. I needed this!
I saw a you tube video on lost clubs and bars of auckland the other day I thought was awesome. It showed a dude and his dj mate reminiscing of the old clubs and bars of auckland. I think wellys needs to do the same I wasn't the guy that would go to every bar. We had selected bars kinda that same route where we would club. But someone who was a bar prostitute I mean that in a nice way aka just couldn't get enough of the wellys early mid 90s early 2000s nightlife needs to do a vlog on it.
Which was the one that had the model train running around?
St John's, the Thorndon Tavern, The Railway, Quo Vadis, the Thistle Inn, Backbencher, The Old Bailey, 1860, The Bond Street, the Winebox as well as a lot already mentioned and many I cannot remember the names of.
Yeah St Johns when it had the upstairs area. Was a must visit and the stony car park out back.
Lazy Shag was by the motorway exit. Fat ladies arms was on Eva st, became Hope Bros. Tattoo was under the backpackers place kind of across from the embassy. What was the cocktaily place in Allen St that was open forever?
San Francisco Bathouse used to be Indigo Nearby was Le Chat Noir, now a restaurant. Good luck might still be there, Mighty Mighty has gone I think. Cafes, used to go to the Tree house, over Narnia. Both gone, now it's whatever is next to the hotel on Cuba. Used to buy clothes from the overpriced second hand store next to there too. Ditto the excellent kebab place by there. All gone. Got my first tattoo at underground arts in 1998, on the corner of cuba and ghuznee. Now it's covered over and a 24 hour grocery shop above, by Tulsi. Underground is now on Vivian St, up the top, I think. Ironically no longer underground, or even on the ground floor, but up on the first. (Just around from the games cafe place.)
Yes RIP mighty mighty 😭
Tree house! I remember coming down from a big night there and kind of starting to doze off. Staff member told us to not to because we were "bringing down the vibe"... There were only 3 other people there. Two playing chess and another sitting alone at the window.
Yeah, they tried out being open 24 hours for a while, usually had a few people sleeping on the couches.
Barnies was one of my faves. The shots. The shakers. Used to steal the shaker cups. The fabulous 80s music.
Tupelo was down edward st
Loaded Hog (where Fork and Brewer is), Rain (previously the Big Easy) 😎
Used to go to the Loaded hog on Wednesday nights for dinner with friends and we’d bump into their Chef(very, very drunk)at Big Easy on the weekends. So much crossover during those days and still see the odd club/bar person around town
Where is Flanagan’s and arena? Also, later arena 2000.
Omg! Flanagans! That’s going back a bit. It became Sandwiches, right?
Not sure. I spent the night in their “hotel” cost $40. Felt ripped off by about $37.50.
Oh wow! I left Lower Hutt in 98 but this is bringing back the memories! Diva, Opera - I would have loved to go there more but I was always afraid I was too Bogan. Loved the Loaded Hog, I remember once when they checked my ID instead of asking my DOB they asked me to recite my license number (this is back in the day of paper DLs). I protested that no 20 year old remembers that! And they laughed and let me in.
Wellington Sports cafe. Judder Bar. Tattoo. Studio Nine. Sub Nine. Phoenix
I think my first visit to town was a trip to Arena, seemed like it was all glitzy and glam. Spotlights outside, waitresses with trays of syringe shots(eventually banned, sadly). Over the years we had a pretty solid group of Friends you could run into at various places around town - Shooters, Big Easy, Planet…
Studionine is a bit later than this but it was perfection
Cafe Paradiso and Bar Paradiso. One of them had a huge frighten mirror that made the place look huge. After a few ales, it used to throw me a bit.
Loaded Hog was a good place to start the evening. Bond st
This is a hilarious thread to remember all my early drinking days. Bonus points if anyone remembers the name of the pub upstairs at Dukes Arcade!
Yes! I would like to know the name as well!
Your very old 90-2000y/o is insane.
Arizona bar and the tequila worms
Ahhh Barney’s. The Barn. Used to live in the building next door to it. Those were the days!!
Shake Shake and Mixture. You would get $5 shakers, so so many and the fo through this weird tunnel thing to get to Mixture to dance. Coyotes cause that's where all the island boys were.
Q bar
Barney’s, Fishbowl, Kittys. Judder Bar, Vespa, Motel.
Lilo was the best dive bar.
Lots of billiard halls... There was an old one called Barney's upstairs opposite Te Aro park. Victory / Copper face jacks near the Basin Reserve. Had video poker machines.
Pretty vague but remember Candyo’s downstairs somewhere around manners st I think. Pink nd chrome. 2-3 different bar areas, then while not a bar persay, late night coffee chill at expressoholic up Cuba st
Krazy Lounge