Teresa Cocktail Bar owner Andrea Marseglia next to the alleyway he'd love to utilise at the back of the bar. Photo / Warren Buckland
Teresa Cocktail Bar owner Andrea Marseglia next to the alleyway he'd love to utilise at the back of the bar. Photo / Warren Buckland
The owner of an award-winning Napier cocktail bar wants to use an alleyway behind his venue two nights a week, but has been left exasperated by red tape.
Teresa Cocktail Bar has been operating for about three years in Napier along the city’s main retail stripEmerson St.
An alleyway behind the venue, called Dalton Street North laneway, backs on to the bar.
Napier City Council recently upgraded that alleyway - which has been labelled “under-utilised” - by adding an LED light installation to make it more attractive to foot traffic.
However, the council says because the alleyway is a legal road it poses an issue for the bar to use it for hospitality purposes.
Teresa Cocktail Bar co-owner Andrea Marseglia said the light installation looked fantastic, but he claimed he and partner Sarah Mitchell had faced headache after headache to get permission from the council to use the alleyway as a spill area.
He said they wanted to block off the lower half of the alleyway to traffic on Friday and Saturday nights, between 5pm and 10pm, and utilise it with seating and music.
“The only thing we want to do is bring life back to the CBD,” he said.
Twenty-five people can currently be seated in the cocktail bar and the business owners predict they could double that number if they had access to the alleyway.
“We know the alleyway is a loading area and it is very important not only for [neighbouring stores] but also for us to be able to pick up and drop our stock - especially with heavy lifting.
“It is easier to drop it here than block the traffic at the front [on Emerson St]. So we value the fact that this a loading area and we don’t want to change its use at all.
“But, at 5pm [all the shops] shut. There is no deliveries really after 3pm.
The council recently added some lighting installations to the alleyway, which will be flicked on this weekend. Photo / Warren Buckland
“After 5pm this becomes so unutilised that we feel that it could be utilised to help a small business that is a destination not just for Napier but for New Zealand to thrive during probably the hardest period of hospitality of all time.”
He claimed they held two trial events last year and early this year, with the council’s backing, where they used the alleyway and received no complaints.
However, he said they had been asked to trial more events before being granted permission to use the laneway, and had faced opposition from a neighbouring unit owner about potential noise disruption.
He said it felt like there was no way forward and they “want some support” from the council.
“We are a cocktail bar, we want to make people comfortable. The music is a chill vibe. We are not playing metal.”
Napier City Council city strategy executive director Rachael Bailey said there were restrictions on the laneway.
“While there is enthusiasm for activating the laneway, the issue is that this is a legal road.
“As part of our process for approving event applications, we co-ordinate with landowners to obtain permission for access across private land, if required for the event.
“We have installed a bespoke lighting installation, which has been funded by [the] Government [through the Better Off Funding pool]. It is scheduled to go live this weekend.
“This should enhance the laneway for people on foot, enhance the perception of safety, particularly after hours, and hopefully inspire businesses to think about the potential ways they could use this space.”
Councillor Sally Crown, speaking about the lighting installation on the laneway, said it was important to improve spaces that might otherwise “be under-utilised”.
Teresa Cocktail Bar has won multiple awards, including the Drinks List of the Year Award at the nationwide 2023 Cuisine Good Food Awards.
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.
