The St George was placed under liquidation by Inland Revenue on March 21 after it failed to pay multiple tax obligations. Photo / Google Maps
The St George was placed under liquidation by Inland Revenue on March 21 after it failed to pay multiple tax obligations. Photo / Google Maps
An insolvent Wellington bar, which owes more than $800,000 to creditors, was forced to shut when landlords changed the locks after it stayed open even though it was in liquidation and hadn’t paid the rent.
Inland Revenue placed bar The George on Willis, trading as The St George, into liquidationon March 21 when the business failed to pay its tax.
The George is located at St George Accommodation formerly known as the Hotel St George, which is not in liquidation.
The High Court at Wellington appointed KPMG liquidators Janet Sprosen and Leon Francis Bowker to liquidate the business.
Sprosen and Bowker’s first liquidators’ report came out on April 28.
The liquidators said IRD put the company into liquidation after it failed to pay PAYE, income tax, small business cashflow loan repayments and other penalties and interest.
Liquidators told the Herald they could not comment on the liquidation while investigations continue.
Liquidators reported that the company’s sole director and shareholder Qiang Liu attributed the business’ failure to pandemic restrictions and Wellington City Council’s actions to slash opening hours.
Wellington City Council restricted trading hours at the bar in 2021.
According to the report, Liu told liquidators the business and assets were sold before the liquidation and the business was trading under a new company.
On investigation however, Sprosen and Bowker found that Liu “remained in control of the business and that trading income was still received into the company bank account”.
The St George operates at the historic St George Hotel, now known as St George Accommodation. Photo / Google Maps
The company was advised by liquidators to cease trading immediately.
St George’s landlord also changed the locks at the premises after the company was served with a letter of demand for unpaid rental arrears on February 17, 2023.
Sprosen and Bowker estimated St George’s creditors are claiming $829,271 in total, with preferential creditor IRD claiming $442,728.
Unsecured creditor claims come in at $381,157 while secured and informal creditors are claiming $1305 and $6549.
Work and Income’s Covid-19 wage subsidy search engine showed St George took $212,582 in subsidies between 2020 and 2021.
Alongside IRD, Government agency ACC is claiming money from the business.
Food and drink wholesalers Gilmours, Coca-Cola, Independent Liquor, Boundary Road Brewery, Lion and Hancocks also make St George’s creditor list, with British-owned gas company BOC and Australian distribution and marketing company Metcash.
In 2021, Liu sought to continue selling alcohol seven days a week from Monday to Sunday between 8am to 3am the following day.
Wellington district licencing committee decided the company must close at 10pm on Friday and Saturday nights after the company director’s request was opposed by the medical officer of health, the New Zealand Police and the licensing inspector.
At the 2020 hearings, Liu told the committee clientele had changed in the area since he took over the bar’s operation in 2013.
He said office workers and tradespeople had largely left the area in recent years because of increased construction work, leading to growth in younger patrons because of nearby university accommodation.
The committee noted, however, Liu’s evidence was “contradictory, inconsistent and difficult to follow”.
Several Wellington bars have gone into liquidation.
The Herald reported in March four central Wellington bars were declared insolvent on the same day: Wellington bars Birdcage on Dixon St, Allen St’s Love Not Lost, Willis St Press Hall’s Amador and Serious Happiness in Newtown.
Kāpiti Coast insolvency firm Fervor’s John Scutter was appointed to liquidate the businesses on March 9.
All four businesses were insolvent because of “current trading patterns and inability to pay obligations as they fall due”, Scutter said.
