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A group of business owners on Wellington’s Courtenay Place are proposing a New Year’s festival, seeking council approval to close the street to vehicles and recreate a party environment reminiscent of the Rugby World Cup and film premieres.
It’s hoped filling the streets with circus acts, food vendors, and bagpipers will draw crowds to boost the struggling hospitality sector and revitalise an area that has “lost its mojo”.
Jeremy Smith, who owns hospitality group Trinity and is also on the board of Hospitality NZ, is championing the idea.
The last time a street festival was held in Courtenay Place was in 2017 for the Lions tour. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Smith told the Herald the proposal has been cooked up by several hospitality providers who feel the area has lost its spark.
They believe a street festival would “make a statement” and hark back to the days when Wellington hosted events like the 2011 Rugby World Cup and Lord of the Rings film premiere.
“We have been working with the council for some months now to try and get approval,” he said.
CubaDupa is one of Wellington's largest street festivals, taking place in and around Cuba St. Photo / Oliver Crawford Photography
“They are receptive, [but] we have had a number of barriers put up, we’ve had a fair amount of ‘yes but’, we now need to get into the ‘yes and, and this is how we’re going to make it happen’.
“It’s been very slow and fairly laborious, but we’ve got a couple of meetings scheduled for this week that we’re hoping take us from talking about it to actually actioning it and making it happen.”
He points to other popular events around the city such as CubaDupa, the Newtown Festival, and the Wellington Marathon as examples of where streets have successfully been closed to vehicles to make way for people. Courtenay Place was last closed off to vehicles to make way for partygoers during the 2017 Lions tour.
Smith said he’s hopeful the New Year’s festival will get across the line and wants to soon begin advertising and booking performers.
It would see the street closed from Cambridge Terrace to Tory St for the evening, starting with performers and ramping up with more live music at midnight.
He’s calling on the council to come to the table to allow venues special liquor licences for the event, and wants to be able to “push the licences out to the edge of the pavement” to allow eating and drinking on the footpaths.
In 2003, Courtenay Place was transformed into a red carpet for the world premiere of Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The Courtenay Place precinct is the centre of Wellington’s nightlife scene but has become tired and run down in recent years.
Smith said many factors are responsible for the area’s demise, and believes it’s a combination of economic challenges, people working from home, vacant earthquake-prone buildings, and an increased number of emergency housing tenants and those experiencing homelessness in the area.
“You add all those bits up and none of it’s positive.”
However, Smith is confident things can be turned around to return Courtenay Place to its former glory.
“We have to work twice as hard to make sure that the energy is there and that the businesses are viable to re-recreate that vibrancy, we’re doing everything we can.”
For the capital’s hospitality industry, which has been in economic turmoil in recent years, Smith said it “would be big” financially.
He has high hopes for the event, inspired by the success of Cuba St’s annual street festival CubaDupa, he thinks it has the potential to be a major drawcard for the city which could attract people to stick around who traditionally leave Wellington for the holidays.
“It might in future years be an attraction that people come to Wellington to be part of”, he said.
A New Year’s Eve street festival isn’t the only idea the business collective has brewing, with Smith also teasing other “activations” such as an annual music festival to take place in the early month of 2025.
A Wellington City Council spokesperson said they were “in discussions with the business group on their future proposals at an operational level”, but at this stage no decisions have been made.
”The Courtenay Place Precinct Plan sets out a vision and a clear pathway forward to revitalise the area as Wellington’s ‘premier place to play’.”
Decisions on road closures must be considered by councillors through the Regulatory Processes Committee which is set to consider applications from the group on 11 September.
Ethan Manera is a multimedia journalist based in Wellington. He joined NZME in 2023 and is interested in politics, local issues and the public service. Ethan is always on the lookout for a story and can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz or messaged on X (formerly Twitter) @ethanjmanera
