Barmy Army a little short on soldiers

"There's plenty of room on the dance floor," booms the lead singer of the live covers band to the small group huddled at the end of the barn-style room down at the official Barmy Army headquarters.

Over the other side of the bar, unoccupied bar staff are playing pool to kill time, while food stall operators are talking about closing up early.

With most Lions' supporters in Wellington for the second test match, the 10-shed, three-bar headquarters housed in the former Alinghi and Team New Zealand yachting sheds was launched with much fanfare last week, after being hampered by resource consent issues. But since then, the crowds have stayed away from the venue.

While hopes are high that business will pick up in the next few days, some catering operators say the headquarters opened its doors too far out from the final test match, while one expressed concerns about whether they would break even. "We might struggle to get much out of it," said one small business operator, who did not want to be named.

"In hindsight you could say that [it opened too early], but no one's to know that. It's just one of those things," said Tagore Indian restaurant owner Jack Bhana. He added that business at the venue had been up and down but was likely to be booming from yesterday.

The operation, run by Elite Events and offering free activities such as horizontal bungy and rock-climbing, cultural performances, internet and banking facilities and giant television screens, opened later than hoped after the group ran into trouble with its resource consent.

A handful of residents in nearby apartments objected, backing down only after pressure from Auckland Mayor Dick Hubbard.

Elite Events director Tony Stevenson said some aspects of the "pain in the butt" resource consent process, such as the barriers required to block vehicle access to certain areas, were keeping people away.

"It makes a mockery of all the hard work we've done planning a really good venue."

But Mr Stevenson downplayed the venue's lack of patronage, saying the slow week had given them time to do a test run of the systems and equipment. "We're grateful we've had a week to get ourselves set up. Next week it's all on, this week's a bit quieter. "

The venue pulled in a crowd of about 3500 for the first test last weekend, while Tuesday night's Manawatu game was watched in the headquarters by about 600 people.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY