Planning a do? Cityscape has your guide to where to go for everything from small groups to a crowd of 500 plus.
DEDICATED VENUES
When a grand affair is required, it’s important to find a venue properly set up to deliver. These dedicated providers have the space to accommodate a throng of your guests and also the essential facilities, expertise and versatility to help you create a sensational event.
Lacebark Function Centre Nestled in the North Canterbury rural idyll of Ohoka, Lacebark Function Centre offers a unique wedding and events venue. The well-developed gardens, manicured lawns and modern reception building provide the perfect backdrop for any function or celebration. Lacebark is well equipped with a reception room that provides seating for up to 120 guests, a separate dance room, full commercial kitchen and a landscaped courtyard area. You will find onsite parking, an in-house sound system, luxury accommodation and gorgeous photo-ops.
Rydges Latimer With an entire floor dedicated to function and conference spaces, the seriously swanky Rydges Latimer can host up to 500 guests within the adaptable spaces their 11 rooms offer. From corporate conferences to lavish weddings and sophisticated soirées, they are fully equipped with state-of-the-art technology, exceptional catering and luxurious accommodation. And with expert event planners on standby to handle all the logistics, this glam inner-city hotspot is just the place to celebrate life’s occasions.
Sign of the Takahe For a function in need of some old-world charm, it’s hard to go past the stone walls and castellated tower of the Sign of the Takahe, on the Port Hills. This Category 1-listed historic building can cater for 110 seated guests or 150 standing and is ideal for weddings, business functions or in fact any celebration.
Riverside Kitchen As well as being a cooking school, Riverside Kitchen in Riverside Market is available for private functions. Whether it’s a private dining experience for groups of up to 30, a team-building chefs’ challenge or a cooking demonstration followed by a four-course feast, they can tailor an event to suit your requirements.
The Welder At The Welder in Welles Street, there is a large dedicated function space available for such events as product launches, food shows, craft shows, fashion shows, special dinners, music performances and art exhibitions. For staging something smaller, check out the intimate surrounds of fellow Welder businesses Bar Yoku and Salut! Salut!
Ilam Homestead Catering to a range of occasions and budgets, Ilam Homestead offers a choice of three fabulous caterers and can accommodate up to 120 people (85 seated dining) and 100 in the theatre/conference room. Their experienced team relish injecting the same love and care into every event, from weddings to corporate events, birthdays and memorials.
The Tannery With several venues under one roof that can accommodate 600 guests, The Tannery has the perfect space for your event whatever it may be. Ideal for wedding banquets and dances, The Atrium transforms into an enchanting dining hall under a canopy of twinkling fairy lights when the sun goes down, while the Blue Smoke concert venue is a rustic space that’s equally suited to hosting private events and casual corporate parties. Choose from their famous fork’n’walk menus or elaborate sit-down dinners. The adjoining AGA Kitchen has a private dining room offering fine food for your next business lunch or dinner, while newest offering the Metropolitan Lounge is a modern conference space that can comfortably seat up to 160 guests, and can also be used as a cocktail or BBQ venue.
Governors Bay Hotel The team at Governors Bay Hotel welcome inquiries about staging functions at the grand old establishment, which has been in continuous operation since 1870.
Mona Vale Homestead Brimming with rich historical references and classic elegance, an event hosted at Mona Vale Homestead is always an affair to remember. As guests gather under the canopy of a majestic oak or within an elegant marquee on the Iris Lawn, the scene is set for a game of croquet or an elegant garden get-together. Whether it’s a Mad Hatter’s tea party or a teddy bears’ picnic, the outstanding food and wine provided by Continental catering can make all your fantastical garden party dreams come true. Roam the sprawling gardens or enjoy a lavish dinner service in the upstairs dining room.
The George Christchurch’s premier boutique hotel has several sophisticated venues to cover off each and every occasion across the board. The Conservatory is just one of three interconnected rooms within the hotel’s other restaurant, 50 Bistro. Accommodating 20 seated guests for breakfast, lunch, dinner and high tea, Executive Chef Antony Page will treat your taste-buds to a culinary journey of discovery. With an exclusive country lodge vibe overlooking The George hotel’s immaculate gardens, The Residence has full access to the hotel’s many services but with all the exclusivity you’d expect within a private villa. From high-powered board meetings to chic cocktail parties and intimate weddings, à la carte dinners to elegant high teas, The Residence is a stunning choice that delivers maximum impact. For cocktail parties of up to 50 or 36 for breakfast, lunch and dinner, The Treasury Room is the ideal location. Featuring six paintings from esteemed New Zealand artist Ralph Hotere, this swanky space is sure to hit the mark with your guests. With seating for up to 18 guests, The Boardroom sports a spectacular chandelier that sets the tone for a night of luxury and fine cuisine for friends, family or business associates.
Links Functions & Events Located within one of New Zealand’s most prestigious golf clubs, Links’ first-class catering and service is combined with stunning vistas, and features excellent acoustics for live music. Overlooking the beautifully manicured greens of Christchurch Golf Clubs’ Shirley Links, the elegant and modern purpose-built facility provides full onsite catering and has the capacity to host large events, with a cocktail capacity of 250 and seated capacity of 150. Whether it’s a conference, business meeting, wedding, cocktail function, gala dinner, luncheon, formal dinner or golf day, Links can do it all. The Christchurch Golf Club has a heritage dating back to 1873, making it the second oldest club in the country and the seventh oldest outside the UK. As well as hosting a variety of events, they offer up a stylish café serving great coffee alongside tasty cabinet fare. Decked out in traditional heritage clubroom décor and displaying the private collection of golf memorabilia from Sir Bob Charles, the Christchurch Golf Club’s Patron, their exclusive boutique room The Charles Gallery can be hired for private events.
Protocol At the foot of the Cashmere Hills, Protocol has everything you need to host your next function. Choose from two function rooms – downstairs lounge room (up to 80) or upstairs lounge room (up to 50). Both offer privacy, have separate entries and their own exclusive terraces with bars and decking. Protocol creates exceptional cuisine from their onsite kitchen and plays host to weddings, conferences, birthdays (except 21sts), corporate events and Christmas functions. With 38 car parking spaces, they also offer a courtesy van that operates on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
The Old Vicarage, nestled on the fringe of Halswell Domain, is a beautiful venue steeped in history. All types of events are welcome, from business meetings to weddings. Private rooms can cater for groups of guests numbering from eight to 180. Options include the Library (8 – 13 guests), the Front Room (15 – 20) and the heated and enclosed deck (up to 45). You can hire one room or multiples. Set menus are available, catering for all dietary needs including gluten-free and vegan. Fur babies are welcome in the dog-friendly outdoors area. There’s seating in the manicured gardens and also plenty of onsite parking.
Botanic Gardens Home base for Good Company, the Botanic Gardens’ Ilex Events Space is a one-of-a-kind environment for your next wedding, cocktail party, fashion show, boardroom lunch or glitzy awards event. For something truly unique, ask about the stunning Cuningham House with its fine collections of sub-tropical plants. Turn down the lights, crack open the champagne. There really is nothing else like this in town.
LAVISH AFFAIRS
Universo Brasserie & Bar Top-notch service and atmosphere to match make Universo Brasserie & Bar one of the finest venues in town for your next function, large or small. Located in the stunning Christchurch Art Gallery building, Universo’s lux interior décor features living plants, heavy floral curtains and Tom Dixon lighting fixtures. The overall effect is an effortless balance between elegant sophistication and casual cool. The team are ready to accommodate your catering needs with a selection of delicious finger food for a cocktail party through to a set menu for that special seated dinner. Whether you need a couple of tables for a family birthday celebration or the whole shebang for a glitzy corporate function, Universo Brasserie & Bar will fit the bill perfectly. The bar, restaurant and café areas can combine to provide seating for up to 100 people, or 140 standing. There’s also space for another 80 seats outside. Al fresco is a great summertime option as the deck is drenched in sun until the early evening.
Barberra & City Social Toby and Nikki Eaton’s side-by-side Cambridge Terrace hotspots can host functions alone or together, delivering maximum flexibility for your event. Barberra, the larger venue, has seating for 70 or standing room for 150 for cocktails and nibbles. City Social can accommodate 30 seated or 60 standing, and can easily move its food cabinet aside to make room for a DJ booth so you can rock the night away. Bring the two venues together and throw in the laneway space between, decked out with festoon lights and heaters, and you have room for a party of 280 guests in a super slick space fully catered from a kitchen that specialises in fresh, seasonal ingredients and the flavours and influences of the Pacific Rim. So whether you need space for as few as 10 or as many as 280 guests, you are covered. Barberra is ideal for private or corporate lunches or dinners, cocktail parties, degustation dinners and conference networking events. City Social keeps things more intimate for anything from a product launch, corporate team-building event, midwinter Christmas dinner or staff Christmas party to cocktail-making masterclasses.
Twenty Seven Steps The finest local produce gets the respect it deserves at the accolade-strewn Twenty Seven Steps and is served in bistro lux sophistication overlooking historic New Regent Street. Options include a semi-private dining room (which can be partitioned off for up to 35 guests) and it caters for up to 75 guests (seated) in its main room.
Fiddlesticks Restaurant & Bar A dedicated functions co-ordinator will take care of everything at Fiddlesticks Restaurant & Bar, which can cater for 70 guests standing and 55 guests seated, or drinks and nibbles in the bar area.
Strawberry Fare This city restaurant is famous for its dessert menu. Strawberry Fare has been wowing taste-buds for more than 30 years serving up primo Euro-styled eats in polished, Scandi-cool surrounds.
5th Street Over in Sydenham, 5th Street (from the team behind neighbouring café Hello Sunday) pairs an exotic, lush space where tangled vines meet retro elegance with a weekly evolving menu guaranteed to satiate you and your party’s appetites.
Miro Rocking two open fireplaces and a custom-made grill, Miro pays respect to the rich lineage of its historic location in the Midland Club building. Miro can cater for 27 guests (seated at lower tables) with a further 14 guests (seated at higher tables) and up to 50 guests (standing).
Story In this New Regent Street culinary hotspot, chef Shafeeq Ismail blends Indian flavours and local ingredients to create dishes that diners love to love. Story is happy to host anything from food and wine nights to birthdays, special occasions, corporate events and product launches. There’s room for 34 seated and 40 standing.
Town Tonic This jewel in the town of Addington is a popular venue for functions due to its great staff, warm welcome and can-do attitude in the face of any request. Open kitchens, amazing food, easy access and plenty of parking mark it out as a venue sure to be memorable for your guests. There’s room for 80 seated and 100 standing.
PARTY CENTRAL
The Fermentist Finding somewhere that can host an event and also ticks all the right boxes for sustainability, dietary options and sophistication can be a challenge. Enter The Fermentist, a brewery committed to doing things better. Its two biggies for sustainability are the seasonal, plant-based menu and its commitment to sourcing everything from local suppliers. That includes salad ingredients from its own edible garden. The Fermentist has room for 130 guests and can supply catering or is happy for you to supply your own. They can host any kind of event, from morning business meetings, birthdays, beer and food matching and charity events to small groups, sales conferences and weddings. There’s all-day sun in the beer garden, and the real enthusiasts can check out the sights and smells in the brewery.
Dux Central This inner-city hotspot offers a choice of venues, depending on what you are after. The Brew Bar is your go-to for an earthy, London-esque craft beer-topia featuring a sunny courtyard, while upstairs the king hit that is Upper Dux provides a funky sun-drenched/after-dark space and deck with serious attitude.
Sevantis Restaurant & Café Justifiably famous for its sumptuous high teas, complete with fancy cakes and pastries, Sevantis Restaurant & Café, in Burnside, boasts extensive and delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner menus that earned it a place on Cuisine magazine’s top 150 New Zealand restaurants. There’s seating for 48 diners or up to 60 standing guests for a more casual event – the courtyard at the back of the restaurant comes into its own here. The team will customise the menu’s offerings to suit you and your guests and will make your business function, birthday party or group dinner an event to remember.
The Craic Irish Bar This Riccarton Road institution is well favoured by its loyal locals, inspired by the Irish traditions of live music and a warm friendly atmosphere. There’s room for 50 seated or 150 standing, making the Craic ideal for smaller family gatherings such as a 21st or other significant occasion. Guinness and Kilkenny on tap, great pub grub and catering, live entertainment and lots of free off-street parking seal the deal for this cosy Irish retreat.
The Elmwood Trading Co This new kid on the suburban Strowan block has fast made a name for itself for being one of the best function venues in town with its private meeting and seminar rooms, and lots of off-street parking. The Elmwood has room for 120 people seated or 200 standing, and is happy to provide catering, all of which makes it ideal for quiz nights, fundraisers, 21st birthdays and other significant family milestones, including reunions. The Elmwood has a superb new restaurant and a large range of beers on tap, and for the summer a sunny and sheltered garden bar.
Spagalimis Pizzeria & Bar This city icon has been turning out handcrafted pizzas since 1978, making it Christchurch’s oldest restaurant. It’s the sort of place anyone feels comfortable in, whether they are wearing a suit or T-shirt and jeans, and is ideal for large family gatherings as the menu has something for everyone – who doesn’t like pizza and pasta? Spagalimis operates out of one of the city’s oldest wooden buildings, the swank surrounds of historic Ironside House, and has a private dining room available for 40 standing guests or 30 seated.
Welles Street This aptly titled converted warehouse on the hospo hotspot of Welles Street features an extensive craft beer selection and open kitchen and comes fully kitted out with a north-facing covered beer garden, projectors, large screens and staging perfect for large functions of 250 plus of your nearest and dearest.
Three Boys Brewery If you’re after some genuine hipster cool for your event, what better than a working craft brewery? Three Boys Brewery can accommodate 80 guests standing and 50 seated, and is ideal for parties, exhibitions, shows and one-off events. They don’t offer catering but welcome outside suppliers, or you can just bring your own.
For corporate functions, private celebrations and wine tastings for up to 150 people, check out Visions, handily located on the Ara Institute of Canterbury campus and with parking available. The changing seasonal menu caters for all dietary requirements and there’s a big range of dishes. You can also hire their kitchen and host team-building events.
Other venues to keep on your radar include Café Valentino, home to legendary wood-fired pizza and made-from-scratch pasta and desserts served in their Italian-chic restaurant on St Asaph Street; The Flaming Rabbit in Lincoln, which features an in-house aged steak cabinet, private function room and awesome views; sibling venue Merrin Street Brewery Bar at Avonhead Mall, which marries epically honed gastropub fare with funky rustic surrounds; the traditional and authentic Japanese food at Tomi Japanese Restaurant, which is ideal for birthdays and work functions; Touch Indian Restaurant at Tower Junction, with its wide range of food that includes North and South Indian curries.
INTIMATE SPACES
When smaller gatherings call for a more elegant, intimate setting (or you simply want to escape the masses), Christchurch is blessed with a number of spaces that answer the call for quality and style. Try the refined old-skool charms of The Library at No.4 Bar & Restaurant. This wood-panelled wonderland rocks a hunter’s lodge/den atsmosphere and features its own bar complete with stuffed marlin head! Tucked away in the Arts Centre, wine bar Cellar Door will bring art, history and a slice of the rustic to your next occasion. Their wine ‘flights’, or comparative tastings, are a great way to break the ice and get guests talking. For a full-throttled swank-fest, Bloody Mary’s Whisky Lounge, with its buttery Chesterfield couches and high-back velvet chairs, is a cavern of cool that’s the place to be, while The Residence at The George teams 1950s charm with elegant, modern conveniences. For a private dining experience guaranteed to have your guests talking for months, Chillingworth Road’s G.H. Mumm Room celebrates all things lavish – exquisite chandeliers, France’s finest flutes and a private chef (should the occasion call for it) are all de rigueur. The plush surrounds of the Permit Room, in the restored splendour of historic Isaac House, make for a stunning venue. Their private function space has its own bar, a delicious catering menu and a fascinating view over Victoria Square.
COCKTAIL COOL
Head to Dux Central’s Emerald Room where jewel tones, black and gold, and slick feature wallpapering ups the city’s overall wine-bar glam levels. Take things to the next level at herbacious late-night delight Botanic, which overlooks the Avon River, or hang out in their swanky rooftop garden bar. Elsewhere at The Terrace, Terrace Tavern offers sun-drenched al fresco drinking and dining out the front, while inside soaring black ceilings featuring pendulous white globe lighting meet dark woods, dirty teal walls and booth seating in the dining area, which offer killer views of the open kitchen.
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
Step outside the usual parameters by staging your event in a gin distillery! The Spirits Workshop Distillery, home of Curiosity Gin, only has room for 10 but those lucky guests will get to take part in gin and/or whisky tastings and get a tour of the distillery as well. It’s ideal for small corporate groups and social clubs wanting an enjoyable and educational experience.
Fiddler’s Green Vineyard & Bistro, in the beautiful Waipara Valley, offers fine food and wine as well as stunning views guaranteed to make for a memorable event. Untouched World Kitchen, within the Untouched World fashion store, offers fine food within a delightfully rustic atmosphere.
With a slice of Tokyo chic and some smooth jazz to set the mood, The Dish in Montreal Street makes a sophisticated venue for a family or work event. Discover the bustling chaos of the streets of Mumbai with the authentic fitout at Mumbaiwala, or host your own Bollywood party (complete with dance off) in the Bollywood Room at Coriander’s Ethnic Indian Restaurant, or rock traditional Middle Eastern at Persian Kitchen. Ride the sushi trains at Cookai Japanese Restaurant and KUMO Japanese Restaurant. Perfect for sunny spring and summer days and warm evenings, Polo Bar & Restaurant at Hotel Montreal teams premium food and beverage offerings with a stylish sheltered courtyard and garden, complete with croquet on the lawn. Discover the lush surrounds of Dux Dine, a leafy courtyard garden oasis and historic turn-of-the-century villa where excellence in vegetarian and seafood awaits.
CATERING & SUPPLIES
For straight-up catering you can’t go past some of the city’s finest party starters at Eaton Drink Co., taste@twenty and Continental. Boutique caterer Fiona’s Food can whip up fresh, honest, uncomplicated and delicious fare for your next event. Every tasty morsel is made from scratch using the finest ingredients.
If you’ve got the catering under control but need a hand with the drinks, head to LK Carlton or Vino Fino. And for a cake that will cap off any special event, check out the offerings from Harpers House.
Need a marquee to ensure your outdoor event is protected from the elements? The good people at Truly Yours supply premium clear marquees and quality furniture to suit every style. They specialise in weddings, corporate events, product launches, client evenings and personal celebrations.