Whatever happened to happy hour?

Saturday, 30 August 2025

Happy Hour. A beautiful time of the day where bar-goers can enjoy a pint or a house wine on the cheap.

In some places, it can span up to three hours. There are still a number of eateries that offer the boozy bout: The Green Man Pub, The Arborist, Elixir, Dakota, and The Residence among them.

However, discounts have their downsides. Due to laws against the promotion of discounted alcohol, Courtenay Place’s The Residence was forced to close for two nights in July.

The bar had been hauled up for having a sign outside promoting two-for-one drinks during happy hour, something owner Jose Ubiaga said he had taken responsibility for.

With the announcement of proposed reforms that will make it harder to oppose liquor licences, it seems like bar owners will be getting a break at a time they desperately need one.

But in this day and age, where there are fewer people with cash in their pockets to spend and venues are dropping like flies - will happy hour walk out the door with the customers?

At Leroy’s Bar on Plimmer’s Steps, happy hour is from 5pm to 6pm, selling discounted spirits, wines and selected beers.

The venue used to have a “spin-the-wheel” game where people who spent over $15 would be in the running for a discounted beer - but this has been discontinued, staff member Oliver Wood said.

Instead, the bar has an hourglass, which they turn upside down when the hour starts, ending exactly at 6pm on the dot.

Wood said he and others in the industry understood that things were tough in Wellington and that customers cared about the right price, although tourists seemed largely unfazed by the price of alcohol.

Pre-Covid, businesses could make large margins on alcohol, he said.

Regarding happy hour, he suspected a large number of bars were struggling to swallow the idea of cutting their margins down - even if they were seeing a drop in money-conscious customers.

The hospo staffer said he’d noticed venues around the capital seemed to be offering less of a discount, but for a longer period.

Longer happy hours were a compromise between reducing drink prices and allowing the bar to make a profit, Wood said.

However, happy hour being longer than an hour seemed to take away from some of its appeal, he said.

“I suspect the emotional significance of 'happy hour' has fallen off, and will continue to do so with the current work-arounds businesses are making.

“At Leroy's, we have tried to bring some of that significance back with concentrating the happy hour to an hour, and emphasising that it is short but sweet with an hour-long hourglass.”

Happy hour is also difficult to advertise or promote. Under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012, alcohol that has been discounted by 25% or more off its normal price could not be promoted outside of the liquor licensee’s premises - meaning business owners have to be very careful about how they promote their happy hours.

Wellington City Council said, in line with Section 237 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012, happy hour was permitted - however, the deal must comply with the Act and remain “in-house,” and could not promote binge drinking.

With happy hour being so difficult to advertise, Wood said the only people who were benefiting it were the customers already inside the venue.

This meant businesses could feel short-changed on the money customers may have been willing to pay, he said.

In December last year, The Residence - owned by Jose Ubiaga - was called up before the Alcohol and Regulatory Licensing Authority (ARLA) for having a sign outside the premises that said: Manager’s pick of the week, happy hour 2 for 1, 4pm – 6pm.

Ubiaga was also called out for his other venue, Dakota Bar, posting about an offer for two-for-one cocktails on Facebook.

Dakota Bar’s infringement was ultimately dismissed, but The Residence was given a 48-hour suspension from Wednesday July 2 to 8am on Friday.

In regard to the infringements, Ubiaga said bar owners were allowed to advertise happy hour, but you couldn't be direct about what you were discounting - the bar should not have mentioned the two-for-one drinks.

He said he believed that when the infringements were issued, the council had been more concerned about enforcing alcohol licensing laws than actually working with businesses.

Usually, the incident would have been resolved with a meeting, he said, rather than involving ARLA. As a result, he had been forced to close his bar for two days in a rough financial climate.

However, Ubiaga said he thought the current alcohol licensing team at the council was very good.

He took responsibility for the infringements : “I know the laws, and, if I'd seen it, I would have sorted it out myself. It wasn't like we were trying to be sneaky.

“I've got no issue with the actual rule itself. I can understand what they're trying to do, because basically what they want is they don't want to use alcohol as a driving force to entice people into your venue.”

Ubiaga said his bars had been offering happy hour for close to a decade, and he had no plans to stop.

However, another bar owner, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of loss of business, said his venue no longer offers happy hour due to rude behaviour from customers.

People were coming in 10 minutes before happy hour, demanding to be served a discounted drink, and then leaving when the discount ended, he said.

“The staff were getting it in the neck when we thought we were doing kind of a nice thing.

“In a time where everyone's struggling, to be giving stuff away at your busiest time ‒ it seems a little counter productive.”