Council in debt dispute

David Williams. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Auckland City Council is taking legal action against a prominent Auckland restaurateur's company over a disputed debt.

Neither the council nor restaurateur David Williams who, with his wife Harbans runs several Auckland restaurants, would discuss details of the debt last week.

The council has applied to put one of Williams' companies, Pinot New Zealand one of more than a dozen companies owned by the couple into liquidation at a High Court hearing on September 4. The Williams' run Relish Group and operate Pontoon Bar and Restaurant, Opium Restaurant and the Sugar and Spice Cafe in the Auckland Domain.

The Williams' have also run Pinot, a wedding and function venue overlooking the Orakei Basin, for the past eight years.

The Pinot site, owned by the city council, is included in a major development planned for the area. Pinot would be demolished as part of that plan but the development, which includes several apartment blocks, is still at the planning stage after protests by residents over the scale of the proposal.

Williams told the Herald on Sunday from Singapore that he had chosen not to renew the lease for Pinot but still managed the property. He acknowledged there was an amount of money in dispute with the council but said the matter would be "resolved". Pinot New Zealand did not "own or do anything" at the moment, he said.