Best of 2024: Nick Mills - Wellington is in a downward spiral and we're in trouble

OPINION: Some disturbing news came across my desk yesterday.

I got a lovely email from Nicola Cranfield with the sad news that Cranfield’s on Johnson St near Lambton Quay is closing.  

Often shops close during a recession and unpredictable times.  

Shops close because they go broke.  

Businesses close when owners have just had enough. 

But Cranfield’s has been operating in Wellington for 33 years and reading Nicola Cranfield’s email really affected me.  

Nicola has fought endlessly against Let's Get Wellington Moving and the Golden Mile project. She's met with counsellors, she's met with businesses, she's gone to every meeting she possibly could have gone to, just to fight the cause to save Lambton Quay from both Let's Get Wellington Moving and the Golden Mile project. 

She's had the acrimony of presenting to Wellington City Council with councillors not even looking her in the eye, looking down at their devices not caring what she has to say.,not caring what she and her mother had done for our city over 33 years. Absolutely no respect whatsoever. 

But that didn't stop Nicola from fighting. 

That didn't stop Nicola from being a proud Wellingtonian wanting her successful family business to carry on against all the distractions and inconvenience that was thrown at her by those two major projects and our council. 

Things got so frustrating for her that she decided that she would not renew her long term lease and go month to month. 

Unfortunately for us in Wellington it didn’t work for Nicola Cranfield and her shop is closing.  

A Wellington institution gone, just like that. 

It’s interesting Nicola is not blaming or even bringing into the equation the public sector job losses due to government cuts. 

I've met Nicola a few times she's the most positive, bright, energetic and focused businesswoman you could ever expect to meet. 

She’s someone you talk to and say to yourself ‘gosh aren't we lucky to have a person like that running a business in our city’. 

Well no longer; she joins the long list of fabulous Wellingtonians who ran amazing businesses that got caught up in the downward spiral and are out… 

An article in the Herald today from Thomas Coughlan, outlining the effects and breaking down the job losses by numbers is very interesting.  

It shows it's more of a self-perpetuating downhill spiral than actual cash disappearing from the community. 

People that haven't lost their job still have the disposable income to spend - they’re just adjusting and being extremely careful. 

Even last night I met a couple who hadn’t lost their jobs, still had disposable income and they felt guilty for going out. It felt wrong to them, with everything going on.  

Our city is in a bad place, and no, it's not just because of these public service cuts, which much of us would agree are needed to some extent.  

No, its a wider issue. It’s an economy on the slump, it's a council that doesn’t seem to understand the big issues, its uncertainty over projects like the Golden Mile.  

I love this city, I love it a lot - but Wellington doesn’t feel like it did five, ten or twenty years ago. 

We’re in a slump, we’re in a spiral - and I think most of us know it. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talks at b.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well Some disturbing news came across my desk yesterday. I
got a lovely email from Nicola Cranfield with the sad
news that Cranfield's on Lampton Key, or more precisely Johnson
Street and the Lampton Key was closing. Now often shops close,
more often they closed during a recession, and more often

(00:34):
and unpredictable times, all of which we're in now. Shops
close because they go broke. Businesses close when owners have
just had enough. But Nicola Cranfield, or Cranfield's to be precise,
has been operating in Wellington for thirty three years, and
reading Nicholas Cramfield's email really affected me. Nichola has fought

(00:59):
endlessly against Let's get well Into Moving in the Golden
Mile projects. She's met with counselors, she's met with businesses,
She's gone to every meeting she could possibly have gone to,
just to fight the fight, the cause to save Lampton
Key from both Wellington Let's Get Willington Moving and the
Golden Mild project. She's that had the acrimony of presenting

(01:22):
to Willington City Council, with councilors not even looking her
in the eye, looking it down at the devices, not
caring what she has to say, not caring that she
and her mother and what they have done for the
city for over thirty three years. Absolutely no respect whatsoever.
But that didn't stop Nichola from fighting. That didn't stop

(01:43):
Nichola from being a proud Warllingtonian, wanting her successful family
business to carry on against all distractions and the inconvenience
that was thrown at her and her family business throws
those two major projects in our council. Things got so
frustrating for her that she decided she would not renew
her long term lease and go months to month. Unfortunately

(02:07):
for us in Wellington, that didn't work out for Niccola.
Her shop is closing. A Willington institution has gone just
like that bang. It's interesting that Nicholas not blaming or
even bringing into the equation that job losses due to
the government cuts. I've met Nicola a few times. She's

(02:27):
the most positive, bright, energetic, focused business woman you could
ever expect to meet. She's someone that you talk to
and you think to yourself, gosh, aren't we lucky to
have a person like that running a business like hers
in our city. Well no longer. She joins the list
of fabulous Wellingtonians who ran amazing business that just got

(02:49):
caught up in the down Wood spile and are out.
An article on the Herald this morning from Thomas Coglan
outlines the effects and breaking down the job losses by
the numbers to do with the government and it's very
interesting me. It shows to me it's more of a
self perpetulating Downhall spiral than an actual cash dispensing from

(03:11):
the community. People haven't lost their jobs, still have the
disposable income to spend. They just adjusting and being expected
extremely careful. Even last night I met a couple leaving
a restaurant. Actually they were going into the restaurant. They

(03:32):
hadn't lost their jobs, had disposable income, and they said
to me they felt guilty for going out. It felt
wrong to them to go out and have dinner out
with everything that's going on in the city. Our city
is in a bad place. And no, it's not just
because of these public service cuts, which some of us
would agree needed to happen to some extent. No, it's

(03:53):
a wider issue. It's an economy on the slump, and
it's a council that doesn't seem to understand the big issues.
It's uncertainty over projects like the Golden Mine and let's
get well into moving that's caused this. I love the city.
I love the city a lot, but Wellington does not
feel like it did five years ago, ten years ago

(04:16):
or twenty years ago. We're on a slump and we're
on a spiral, and I think most of us know it.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
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