Wellington's Red Square owner remembers the last 23 years

The owner of Wellington bar Red Square remembers celebrating her 21st birthday at the venue on the first weekend it opened.

Now, Sarah Bolton, who was passed down the business by her father and his business partner, said it was time to walk away.

"It's been a great run, but like all good parties, it's you've got to know when to walk away and I just want to leave on a high," she told RNZ.

The move came as other long-standing hospitality businesses in the capital shut down, like Havana Bar and Spruce Goose.

Bolton said Red Square would not be closing for revenue reasons.

"I'd love to see Wellington do better, but for us it's a very different reason why we're closing," Bolton said.

She said the Wellington hospitality scene had changed a lot in the past two decades, as had the bar.

What started as a lounge bar with a pool table, serving cocktails and food catering to people around 30, was now a nightclub for 18 to 21-year-olds only open on Friday and Saturday nights.

But the nightclub lifestyle did not fit with Bolton's own anymore.

"One of the main reasons I'm stepping away is my kids have got Sunday sport and me getting home at four in the morning isn't really viable anymore."

Bolton said one of her favourite parts of each weekend was discovering what was in lost property - from someone leaving behind one shoe, to one crutch.

She felt like she had grown up in the place, as had her own kids.

She remembered celebrating her 21st on the first weekend the venue opened.

"It's been in my family my whole life, so it will be sad standing or stepping away from it. But yeah, it is time."

Jeremy Smith, director of Trinity Group which owns bars including Lulu and The Arborist, said the late night market had been particulary tough with challenges like "more homeless people, lack of investment, streets not always as clean as they should be".

"I think there's not many venues that are flying, most are hanging in there."

Smith said in the past, one venue would close and another would open, with the number of venues staying roughly the same.

"What we've now seen in Courtney Place is that a place closes, and there's no people putting their hand up to say, 'Look, I've got a new idea, I've got a new concept, I'm willing to take the risk'."

He said people were more cautious, leaving Wellington with more empty venues.

He hoped there would not be more closures on the horizon, and said owners were working together to find solutions.

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