New operator keeps events running at Auckland’s Showgrounds

Events at Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds are continuing as a result of the NZ Exhibition and Events Company having been appointed as the venue’s new operator under a one-year licence.

The move follows the historic venue’s previous operator, the Auckland Agricultural Pastoral and Industrial Shows Board, trading as ASB Showgrounds, having entered voluntary liquidation in June due to the impact of COVID-19, coupled with claims of increasing rent being charged by its landlord the Cornwall Park Trust Board (CPTB).

However, the venue is no longer be called ASB Showgrounds.

A media statement issued by CPTB at the end of last month said the ‘Auckland Showgrounds’ was set to continue operating as an events and exhibition centre under an agreement between CPTB and the NZ Exhibition and Events Company (NZEEC).

CPTB Chair Adrienne Young-Cooper said having a new operator in place within a month of the previous operator going into liquidation was “a tremendous outcome”, and the result of a lot of hard work by CPTB, the liquidator, and the new operator.

“We have said right from the start that we were prepared to support any workable proposal that would allow the showgrounds to continue to operate.”

Young-Cooper added that NZEEC had developed a solution that minimised disruption to exhibitors and the public, noting “the agreement with NZEEC allows this facility to keep running while we fully evaluate options for the showgrounds’ long-term operating structure.”

NZEEC Director Mark Frankham, who managed the Showgrounds for the previous operator, explained that CPTB’s quick action in securing the assets and infrastructure required for the showgrounds to operate, would smooth the transition.

Committed to maintaining a full events calendar at the venue, Frankham commented “we are already in discussion with exhibitors who held previous bookings, as well as considering a range of other possible proposals.”

A first liquidators’ report for ASB Showgrounds said it had debts of $4.6 million, and the site was not trading.

Image: The Auckland Showgrounds with the city's CBD in the background.