Cobb & Co restaurant in limbo

Cobb & Co franchiser Ben Gower says he would love to reopen the recently closed Dunedin site, but was waiting to hear from the Dunedin City Council about the lease.

Restaurant operator Playground Pals Ltd was put into liquidation and the directors walked away from the Dunedin Railway Station site in March after the lockdown took effect.

Mr Gower said he had been trying to get it open again but the council had not been very responsive to his communication.

"We’re negotiating with council ... We’re trying to get hold of the premises again to start trading."

The Dunedin Cobb & Co has been at the railway site since 2017 but when the business was liquidated the lease for the site was cancelled, Mr Gower said.

"We’re more than happy to operate in Dunedin. [It’s] a great site — we’d love to get it open."

At its height the restaurant could employ as many as 30 staff, he said.

Dunedin City Council property services group manager David Bainbridge-Zafar said the council had been approached about Cobb & Co’s lease but no decision had been made about it.

"As a result, the premises is currently vacant and we are working with the liquidators while we review our options."

Mr Gower said if it secured the lease again, the Cobb & Co parent company would run the restaurant while it looked for a new franchisee to take it over.

One of the two former operators of the restaurant is understood to be interested in being involved in the potential restart.

The restaurant was opened in July 2017 after a multimillion-dollar refit.

The previous Cobb & Co in Dunedin — at the Law Courts Hotel — closed a decade earlier.