{"id":304777,"date":"2026-02-27T11:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/304777\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T11:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:35:09","slug":"rotorua-night-market-to-remain-in-council-hands-and-stay-in-city-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/304777\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua Night Market to remain in council hands and stay in city centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

This was abandoned in December after pushback from vendors and the public<\/a>, and after a council vote initiated by councillor Robert Lee.<\/p>\n

At a meeting last week, councillors voted to keep control of the market and to keep it at its current inner-city site, with the decision made public today.<\/p>\n

Four proposals were received to take over the management, but councillors decided that none met council objectives. <\/p>\n

Each required either ongoing council funding, significant infrastructure investment, or a move away from the inner city. None aligned with the council\u2019s aim of reducing the roughly $200,000 annual cost of running the market, nor with a strong public preference for its current location.<\/p>\n

\"RotoruaRotorua Night Market at Matariki. Photo \/ Ben Fraser<\/p>\n

A recent council survey found that between 71% and 78% of residents, vendors and nearby businesses supported keeping the market in the city centre.<\/p>\n

Council community experience group manager Alex Wilson said the trial move and the exploration of external management options had \u201creally cemented\u201d what the community and businesses wanted from the market. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision to keep Night Market management within council gives us the ability to continue to support and grow other benefits that relate to the market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council investigations have shown the market\u2019s economic benefit to local shops and hospitality businesses amounts to an average $3000 increase in card spending during market hours. <\/p>\n

The council aimed to work with vendors to find \u201cfurther efficiencies\u201d to reduce costs, and there would be some fee increases.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rotorua Night Market will continue to provide a fantastic gathering spot on Thursdays for locals and visitors alike,\u201d Wilson said. <\/p>\n

Reg Hennessy, owner of Hennessy\u2019s Irish Bar on T\u016bt\u0101nekai St, was one of the original drivers behind the night market 15 years ago. <\/p>\n

He was pleased to see some \u201ccommon sense\u201d from the council.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to see that they are not going to be removing something that brings such vibrancy to the city centre on a Thursday night.\u201d <\/p>\n

He said his bar had been noticeably busier in recent weeks, with an uptick in international visitors drawn in by the market atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey hear there is a night market on and think that sounds good and wander in. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey wouldn\u2019t do the same for Kuirau Park.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" Hennessy\u2019s Irish Bar owner Reg Hennessy. Photo \/ Ben Fraser<\/p>\n

He was confident of the market\u2019s long-term financial sustainability.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I can see, it really shouldn\u2019t take much to get the market viable financially.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.<\/p>\n

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This was abandoned in December after pushback from vendors and the public, and after a council vote initiated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,4911,95,1550,2199,803,10474,5205,12513,10046,33491,78,225,111,43,139,2551,69,44355,111635,5204,13120,1327,38715,2069,87980,61,166825,8238,1533],"class_list":{"0":"post-304777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-after","9":"tag-alternative","10":"tag-and","11":"tag-centre","12":"tag-city","13":"tag-continue","14":"tag-control","15":"tag-council","16":"tag-failed","17":"tag-hands","18":"tag-identify","19":"tag-in","20":"tag-market","21":"tag-new-zealand","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-newzealand","24":"tag-night","25":"tag-nz","26":"tag-operator","27":"tag-preferred","28":"tag-process","29":"tag-remain","30":"tag-rotorua","31":"tag-rotoruas","32":"tag-stay","33":"tag-tender","34":"tag-to","35":"tag-ttnekai","36":"tag-under","37":"tag-will"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}