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Wellington cocktail bar to close after 14 years

Author
Janhavi Gosavi,
Publish Date
Thu, 12 Mar 2026, 4:44pm
Crumpet, on Manners St in central Wellington, has announced it is closing and will trade for the last time on March 28.
Crumpet, on Manners St in central Wellington, has announced it is closing and will trade for the last time on March 28.

Wellington cocktail bar to close after 14 years

Author
Janhavi Gosavi,
Publish Date
Thu, 12 Mar 2026, 4:44pm

Wellington bar Crumpet will be shutting down after more than a decade serving cocktails and sweet treats.

Its last day of trading will be March 28.

The team behind the bar announced its closure on social media.

The post said Crumpet was opened in March 2012, when the owners had a baby-in-tow.

“During this time we have watched people grow, dear friendships, relationships blossom and have had wild encounters with people from all walks of life, from across the world and had many wonderful conversations,” the post read.

“Thank you so much Pōneke for letting us be part of the landscape. We’ve been blessed to have shared the journey with this wonderful community.”

Crumpet’s owners said they decided to shut the bar down because of “the situation with the building and our lease” but the closure would give them “capacity to focus on new aspirations and career paths”.

The bar had a prime location on Manners St in central Wellington, attached to the historic Opera House theatre.

Crumpet was a popular date spot, renowned for its hand-crafted cocktails, sweet crumpets and liquor-themed nights such as Whiskey Wednesday and Agave Thursday.

Some of the drinks made by Crumpet bartenders for Cocktail Wellington.
Some of the drinks made by Crumpet bartenders for Cocktail Wellington.

Patrons of the bar left comments under its social media posts reminiscing on their memories at Crumpet.

“Crumpet has been my staple for an after-show drink or bumping into friends every time I’ve come back to Welly... the atmosphere, the people and the crew mixed in such a delectable way,” one person wrote.

Another commenter said if New Zealand had a “Hospitality Hall of Fame”, Crumpet would be “very deserving of a spot among the greats”.

Janhavi Gosavi is a Wellington-based journalist for the New Zealand Herald who covers news in the capital.

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