{"id":65069,"date":"2025-10-08T08:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T08:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/65069\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T08:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T08:09:08","slug":"chocolate-fish-owners-apologise-for-blaming-cafes-closure-on-sir-peter-jackson-dame-fran-walsh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/65069\/","title":{"rendered":"Chocolate Fish owners apologise for blaming cafe\u2019s closure on Sir Peter Jackson, Dame Fran Walsh"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ZvdWdQYcssNemOdDbi\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cRegrettably and without foundation, we assumed Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh were responsible for the decision. However, we were wrong,\u201d the Penningtons said.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"The owners of Wellington's Chocolate Fish caf\u00e9 have apologised to Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh for blaming them for the caf\u00e9's closure. Photo \/ RNZ\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>The owners of Wellington&#8217;s Chocolate Fish caf\u00e9 have apologised to Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh for blaming them for the caf\u00e9&#8217;s closure. Photo \/ RNZ<\/p>\n<p class=\"ZvdWdQYcssNemOdDbi\" style=\"display:none\">They say they respect the operational decisions of the cafe\u2019s landlord, Wingnut PM, and apologise unreservedly and sincerely to Jackson and Walsh for claiming it was their decision to end the tenancy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ZvdWdQYcssNemOdDbi\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe deeply regret our mistake and sincerely apologise for misleading the public and for any offence to Sir Peter and Dame Fran.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ZvdWdQYcssNemOdDbi\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe are issuing this apology of our own volition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"The Chocolate Fish Cafe at Shelly Bay will close at the end of January next year. Photo \/ Google Maps\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>The Chocolate Fish Cafe at Shelly Bay will close at the end of January next year. Photo \/ Google Maps<\/p>\n<p class=\"ZvdWdQYcssNemOdDbi\" style=\"display:none\">The Chocolate Fish Cafe has been operating at Shelly Bay for 15 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ZvdWdQYcssNemOdDbi\" style=\"display:none\">Jackson, best known for directing The Lord of the Rings films, purchased the historic Submarine Barracks property at Shelly Bay with partner Walsh in 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ZvdWdQYcssNemOdDbi\" style=\"display:none\">A Wingnut PM spokesperson previously said they had been in discussions with the Penningtons for the past year about its pending closure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ZvdWdQYcssNemOdDbi\" style=\"display:none\">The spokesperson said the owners had been aware the original Submarine Barracks required \u201csubstantial remedial work\u201d, including replacing the roof, restoring its historic frontage, interior renovations, applying a new coat of paint to the exterior and temporarily closing the parking area for tar-sealing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ZvdWdQYcssNemOdDbi\" style=\"display:none\">The spokesperson said it had already offered support to the owners by allowing the cafe to remain open over the coming summer period.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ZvdWdQYcssNemOdDbi\" style=\"display:none\">The Chocolate Fish Cafe will remain open in Shelly Bay until the end of January next year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ZvdWdQYcssNemOdDbi\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cBetween now and then, we and our amazing team look forward to welcoming Wellingtonians and visitors alike to enjoy the legendary Chocolate Fish experience,\u201d the Penningtons said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ZvdWdQYcssNemOdDbi\" style=\"display:none\">\u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/\">RNZ<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cRegrettably and without foundation, we assumed Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh were responsible for the decision.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[52687,52688,48706,224,17163,2947,8321,2082,52689,42,30641,43,90,9769,5413,8485,40,38,41,39,52690],"class_list":["post-65069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-apologise","tag-blaming","tag-cafes","tag-chocolate","tag-closure","tag-dame","tag-fish","tag-for","tag-fran","tag-headlines","tag-jackson","tag-news","tag-on","tag-owners","tag-peter","tag-sir","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-walsh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65069","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=65069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}