Dunedin Venue Chick's Hotel To Close In 2016

Iconic and much-loved Dunedin venue Chick's Hotel looks likely to be shutting up shop in early 2016. In a Facebook post late last week, hotel operator Mike McLeod announced the decision, and although he wasn't sure of the final closing date they were aiming for the end of March. "It will have been 3 and a half years by then, and it's been a lot of fun, and also insanely stressful and difficult at times," he said.

McLeod took over Port Chalmers bar with a group of Dunedin musicians in 2012. He told the ODT that although the closure would leave a "hole" in the town's music scene, he believed there was room for someone to open a medium-sized music venue closer to the centre of the city.

Upcoming shows at the popular venue include Shellac, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Die! Die! Die!, Kurt Vile and Lou Barlow.