La Rambla tapas bar on Peel St falls into liquidation
A Peel St bar that helped to create one of the city’s most vibrant laneways has closed – amid warnings more will fold under the CBD hospitality crisis.
Business
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Peel St tapas bar La Rambla has closed its doors for the last time, with liquidators appointed to wind up the city venue amid the ongoing crisis facing CBD hospitality operators.
La Rambla was one of the first bars to emerge on Peel St during the early stages of its emergence into one of the city’s most vibrant laneways.
Owners Tom Smith, Kyle Young and Stephanie Gibbs opened the tapas bar in a three-storey heritage building in 2014, modelling it on the popular venues found across Spain.
However forced closures during Covid, worker shortages and falling foot traffic resulting from more city workers opting to work from home led to their decision to shut up shop.
Ian Burford of Macks Advisory, who was appointed liquidator on Monday, said many other city venues would likely suffer a similar fate because of the ongoing impact of Covid on the city economy.
“Anecdotally the sector is struggling,” he said.
“Some of the nightclubs in the Hindley St area are doing OK because they’re not reliant on the daily workers … but it’s those that cater for the lunchtime and after-work trade – they’re still struggling.
“(For La Rambla) it all revolved around issues with the pandemic, the venue having to close down for big periods of time and workers not coming back to the city. These guys ran a number of venues and staffing was also an issue.”
One of those other venues was US-style sports bar Wing It, which closed its doors earlier this year after facing similar challenges to La Rambla.
The three owners opened Wing It just prior to Covid in 2019, in the basement space formerly occupied by Jack Ruby on King William St.
Mr Burford, who was appointed liquidator of Wing It in May, said the venue relied on city office workers, and their absence hit the business hard.
“Its main clientele were occupants of the Westpac building and that occupancy, during the pandemic, was down to 10 per cent so foot trade was just not there.”
Mr Burford said La Rambla and Wing It owed unsecured creditors, mainly the ATO, around $250,000 and $400,000 respectively.
And worse is to come for the hospitality sector, Mr Burford said, with many operators still struggling to recover from the pandemic.
“I think we certainly haven’t hit the peak yet – it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
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