Description:

After ten years of battling every other brewery in the country for shelf and tap space, we had had enough. The tough decision was made to bleed our shareholders dry and open up our own venue. In the self-proclaimed “craft beer capital” of Aotearoa we noticed a distinct lack of any kind of quality, independent, family friendly hospitality.

Being Abandoned Brewery we couldn’t settle for mediocre, we needed something unique and true to our ethos of craft beer minus the pretentious wank. Something left of field, which would help us stand out from the sometimes elitist and cult-like douchery of craft beer.

We assembled a team of hospitality's greatest minds: [ Redacted ], an iconic Welly hospo operator; [ Redacted ], a decorated visual designer; and [ Redacted ], our keg delivery driver. We then attempted to go to our favourite inner city bar — [ Redacted ], but unfortunately it was absolutely packed and we were turned away. Our only other option was to grab a 24 box each of [ Redacted ] Low-Carb Tasteless Ultra and hit our other favourite spot to drink in Wellington — Fort Ballance on the Miramar Peninsula.

After seven or eight beers, we realised the answer was right in front of us. What if we created a bar with the exact same aesthetics as an abandoned military bunker!

What better way to put people at ease than to create a space so relaxed yet so visually chaotic that customers instinctively know there will be no judgment.

We couldn’t get any old “Mural Artist” to come in and make a mockery of the abandoned military bunker aesthetic. It just so happened that a friend of a friend of a friend of someone Tim knew, knew the perfect man for the job — The PORKSTA himself!

This notorious vandal’s style would perfectly transform our space into just the total anti-disestablishment vibey place we thought people would love. Simply put we wanted not only a relaxed and comfortable setting to responsibly consume beer and fried food in, but an immersive celebration of counterculture and creativity through it’s blatant disregard for conventional interior design norms and a faithful adherence to the chaotic and disruptive nature of the overarching brand approach to things, all while subverting the status quo through an avant garde lens and an ad hoc approach spearheaded by the innate creativity of PORK as a visual artist at the height of his powers. It was really as straightforward as that.

From the repurposed Beervana stand as a DJ booth, to the chaotic hand-written menu design and the hidden gems The PORKSTA tagged around the room. The entire place oozes creativity but in a way that feels accessible and down to earth, rather than elitist, sterile and safe. It truly does feel like we’ve thrown some tables and chairs into an abandoned military bunker but with just enough purpose and care to justify $16 pints of Hazy IPA.