Thank you to those at the Christchurch City Council who saw some sense in an otherwise silly situation and granted me a Certificate of Public Use. I am now allowed to open and have six weeks to resolve my urinals being 90cm too close to the neighbour’s car-park. While I still think this is silly, [...]

Dearest Council, My name is Johnny and my business was destroyed in the February 2011 Earthquake. Since then I have been working day-and-night to try and reopen. It has been a long, hard road and I am now nearing the end of my journey. Throughout this process I have come across good and bad people [...]

All the major pieces of Smash Palace are now on site, ready to be arranged. We backed the bus over Bealey Ave last night in a lovely display of cowboy traffic management. Since it’s a building and not a bus, we decided it was fine for Greg to drive it down with no license. Instead, [...]

I was so pleased to see Gerry Brownlee calling Parker a clown. It reminded me of that ill advised photoshoot for that ill-advised flower show. It must be nice to be off on a junket in China while the rest of us are stuck in Christchurch fighting the Council, hell bent on running small businesses [...]

Followers of this blog will know my contempt for the Christchurch City Council. Never before have I come across an organisation so rotten and corrupt due to lack of leadership and mismanagement. But it would be easy to criticise and pass judgement without offering a solution. I care about this city enough that I would [...]

I have met with the Council three times this week. Each time I’ve been told that all they need is this or that piece of information and I will have my consent. Each time I have provided the information asked only to have another hurdle placed in my way. Somebody is either stupid, gutless or [...]

I went to the protest at the City Council yesterday. For me, it wasn’t about the CEO’s pay rise, it was about an institution that is so inept and damaged that none of the different parts are talking to one another. I see this as a failure of leadership and therefore hold Clerk Tony and [...]

Hey all. If you know anyone who is looking for a hospo job, send them my way.While I prefer to have known staff since they were born, opening date is getting closer and finding people who fit into this category is getting harder. So, bar staff, kitchen staff, part time, full time… Whatever you’re looking [...]

I’m looking forward to 2012. I was getting worn down by 2011. Bar falling down, insurance scraps, non-stop trouble with finding a new site, the Council saying the right things in public then finding nothing but obsticles in my way when I tried to get back into the central city… Nothing seemed to be easy. [...]

Food carts are so hot right now. I feel like we are onto something with our proposed gypsy encampment. Check out this article here. Here is a picture of me smashing a Waynzo hotdog for breakfast. Living the dream…