Liquidator appointed to four Wellington bars unable ‘to pay obligations’

Four Wellington bars have been declared insolvent as ACC, the IRD, and dozens of employees and shareholders claim money from the venues.

Love Not Lost on Allen St, Birdcage on Dixon St, Amador in Willis St Press Hall and Serious Happiness in Newtown have hit financial trouble, with the liquidators’ report citing “current trading patterns and an inability to pay obligations” as the reason.

Birdcage is owned by Gas Hospitality whilst Amador is owned by Shoreditch Holdings. Both are run by Andrew Peter Gray, who has been trading since 2017.

Meanwhile, Serious Happiness is owned by Benjamin Joshua Irvine and has been running since 2020.

READ MORE:
* Company owes $908k, liquidator expects clothing store staff to be paid
* Liquidated Nelson boat-building company owes almost $5m
* What’s On: Art, music and events in Porirua and the Kāpiti Coast

Love Not Lost, Irvine’s older venue, is a majority shareholder of the former and shares the same owner. It’s been in operation since 2017.

Insolvency firm Fervor’s John Scutter, based in the Kāpiti Coast, presided over the process, which started on March 9. The report was later published on March 16.

The reports stated that due to a lack of documentation, assets from all businesses could not be listed or catalogued yet.

It also said that the Gas Hospitality had no financial documentation beyond March 31, 2021 and that Shoreditch Holdings had none prepared.

Both stated that “at the time of liquidation, the recording of transactions in the accounting systems used by the company had fallen behind.”

The liquidation report showed that 24 employees from Birdcage, six from Amador, and 17 each from Serious Happiness and Love Not Lost were seeking wages for the week of insolvency, as well as holiday and sick leave payouts.

Raise the Bar Hospitality Union leader Chloe Ann-King said that most times, staff are generally not at the top of the list of creditors to be paid.

“Some payments to workers are preferential, but the reality is that in coming after secured creditors and liquidator fees, workers almost always don’t get their entitlements.”

“If some of the workers are on visas, it takes time to transfer the visa to a new employer. So for any immigrant workers, this will likely be a really horrifying time for them.”

The liquidation reports for all businesses involved state that “it is unknown if a distribution will be made to the preferential claims of employees, after potential claims from secured creditors have been accounted for”.

Ann-King said the way hospitality workers were treated during a liquidation process was a national shame.

“It’s so easy to liquidate a hospo business and for the employer to just move on. Meanwhile, any hospo worker that is subjected to liquidation is often left with little recourse.”

Creditors listed also include ACC, the IRD, and multiple food and beverage suppliers.

Among the beverage suppliers were Coca-Cola, Panhead, Garage Project, and Liberty Brewing. Also listed were Bank of New Zealand and GetCapital.

Scutter said it was unclear when the liquidation period would finish.