“The temporary closure is a shame because the site has a great fit-out, is well located and the venue has shown good potential in the past.”
“I’d encourage any interested parties to get in touch,” he said, adding: “Any new operator will have to apply for a new liquor licence so the reopening may be several weeks away.”
One of 14 Good George sites, mainly in Hamilton and Auckland, the Napier business opened in 2023 and had been owned by Auckland-based Semper Fidelis Brothers Ltd since April last year.
It went into voluntary liquidation on April 29 this year, a first report by Auckland insolvency specialists Daran Nair and Heiko Draht on May 2 stating directors indicated there were no assets.
The report said the company traded as a restaurant and bar under the name “Good George Napier” in Napier, following the acquisition of the business in April 2024, but experienced a decline in sales, and income became insufficient to meet operating expenses.
The shareholders injected additional funds in an effort to support ongoing trading, but the business performance did not improve, and the shareholders resolved to put it into liquidation, it said.
Creditors have until June 15 to register their claims.
The site was once that of what has been recorded as Napier’s first public school – the Napier District School, which opened in 1879.
In more recent times it had been the site of an all-you-can-eat Valentines buffet restaurant, which did not reopen after a fire in 2008.
It then became Breakers Cafe and Bar, part of a chain started by business couple Mark and Penny Burt in Napier’s Masonic Hotel in 1997.
The Good George chain stems from a craft brewing dream founded in an old church (St George’s) in Frankton, Hamilton, in 2011.
In March 2020 it also started making hand sanitiser to meet demand in the first Covid lockdown.
Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.
