The great hybrid return to work: How CBD businesses fared during Work from Home phase

D4 owner Dermot Murphy said his CBD business had been 'decimated' by the Omicron wave. Photo / Supplied

A Wellington bar owner who says he had the worst week in 15 years last month says there are signs office workers are slowly returning to the CBD.

The majority of Wellington CBD workers have been working from home since Omicron hit in late January, with some companies telling the Herald on Sunday they had up to 5 per cent of staff in the office during February and March.

Dermot Murphy, the owner of D4 on Featherston St, said his CBD business had been "decimated" this year, particularly during the lunch trade.

"The first week in March was my worst week in 15 years at D4 Featherston.

"And we've been through a lot – the Kaikōura earthquake basically shook our building that we're attached to and we were kicked out for 15 weeks."

"We've gone through my building being restrengthened and we had no tenants for four years.

"But that first week of March when everyone was suddenly running scared, we did less in a week than I'd normally do on a Friday."

D4's lunch trade had been almost wiped out during February and March. Photo / Supplied

Murphy said this period had been scary for all hospitality businesses in the CBD areas.

"At D4 in Featherston I never felt like we're going to have to shut this or go into hibernation, but the first week and the second week of March, they were the scary weeks.

"I was thinking to myself, if this continues for four to six or eight weeks, I knew the whole of the CBD would be in big trouble."

The absence of office workers had almost "wiped out" the bar's lunch trade, which made up around 20 per cent of their overall takings.

"My lunches have been absolutely wiped out this year. Friday in the past we might have done 150 covers for lunch – but there's been some Fridays that have been as bad as a Monday pre-Covid lunches."

Murphy kept all his staff on and tried not to reduce their hours, but there were times he had one staff member to every patron in the pub.

"I'm really lucky at D4 with 15 years of history and lots of regulars, and that's what's got us through the last three or four months.

"Last year I saw it and the year before I saw it – we're already so down and torn over, and then when you put the last three months in the equation.

"But hopefully there's light at the end of the tunnel now."

D4 owner Dermot Murphy said early March had been their worst period in 15 years. Photo / Supplied

This month Murphy had seen the signs of corporate office workers returning to the CBD, with last week being the best they had seen all year.

"It was great to see the pick-up last week, I had people in for lunches – it was brilliant.

"But the old story is use it or lose it, and the same goes for hospitality. The government workers will come back to the office and a quarter of the places might be shut.

"If you just look at government and council coming back to the CBD, that's a massive help in and of itself. But we've definitely seen how corporate New Zealand have led the charge over the last two weeks."

While D4 had survived off the back of good regulars and an ideally-timed St Patrick's Day celebration, Murphy was concerned for the overall health of the CBD.

"I don't know how the little cafes are surviving, because I can get a group of guys or girls in, they all have three or four pints and that's $120 in the till.

"These poor little cafes that serve a $5 coffee and then close at 2pm, I don't know how they're surviving."

"Most people's war chest in business must be really low now and the last three months in the CBD would have worn out most people's war chest."