ORIGINALLY BUILT AS A CROCKERY WAREHOUSE, THIS BUILDING HAS HOUSED A SUCCESSION OF POPULAR HOSPITALITY VENUES – A TRADITION THAT CONTINUES TO THIS DAY.

William and Sarah Worrall purchased the lease for the vacant property from the Auckland Harbour Board in 1908. In 1910, under the direction of architect John Currie, they erected a warehouse for their crockery business at a cost of £2,000.

According to former tenant BikeCentral, the Worralls were also New Zealand’s first importers of bicycles, ‘bringing history full cycle’ for the site.

In 1920 motor engineer W. R. Twigg leased the ground and first floors from the Worralls, eventually purchasing the lease and becoming the sole occupant in 1937.

An untimely end and a new era

Twigg met an unfortunate end after ‘an encounter with a lion’ while game hunting in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). His company was taken over by W. E. Brooke Taylor, who ran it until 1972.

In 1973 the famed Clichy bar and bistro opened for business here. The building’s reputation as a popular venue continued into the 1990s, when it was home first to Tatler restaurant, then the Kiwi Tavern. In the mid-1990s, the property was vested in Auckland City Council and Auckland Regional Council.

Today the building has been cleaned out and the ground floor is leased on an interim basis to restaurant and tequila bar Mexico. It will be fully renovated as part of the Britomart redevelopment programme.

Read more about the history of Britomart

IN THIS BUILDING

Ground floor
Mexico

Level 1
Factory Lane

Level 2
Skull and Bones

Location