This is the extend­ed ver­sion of today’s piece in the sum­mer sec­tion of the Domin­ion Post.

It’s sum­mer and hope­ful­ly you’re on hol­i­day. Evenings should be stretched out pleas­ant­ly in front of you, full of pos­si­bil­i­ty and excite­ment. So how are you going to spend your time? If you’re any­thing like us in the Welling­ton­ista, you’ll be head­ing out to a bar. But in a town full of places keen to take your mon­ey, where should you choose? We have some sug­ges­tions. 
 
If you’re meet­ing a big group of peo­ple:
The gar­den bar of the South­ern Cross is a love­ly space with plen­ty of room to assem­ble large crowds in. Parts are under cov­er in case it’s rain­ing (yes, it’s going to rain) and if it’s cold enough they’ll even give you blan­kets and hot water bot­tles so you can con­tin­ue smok­ing. Beer comes in jugs and you can get a pret­ty good range of food as well, and enter­tain your­selves play­ing Giant Jen­ga. Expect glass­es to get bro­ken. 
 
If you wish to hide away from the sun OR watch the most inter­est­ing streetlife:
Good Luck­’s base­ment bar set­ting and air con­di­tion­ing plus the wide cock­tail range have always made it a real­ly good place to escape to if it’s just too damn hot out­side, but since last sum­mer they have upped the ante with an enclosed out­door space right slap bang in the mid­dle of Cuba Mall where you can still get table ser­vice and watch the world go by. 
 
If you want to feel like you’re in a new city:
Welling­ton can get a lit­tle claus­tro­pho­bic at times, espe­cial­ly when all the pub­lic ser­vants are unchained from their desks for two weeks, so if you want to feel like you’re some­where that you’re not, check out Bet­ty’s on Blair Street. Their cun­ning dig­i­tal pro­jec­tors — if applied with enough moji­tos — will make you believe that you are in New York, or pos­si­bly Cuba, depend­ing on what­ev­er the images de jour dis­played across three walls are. 
 
If you want to drink at a bar you might not have tried yet:
Head to Pol­lux off the lob­by of the Opera House on Man­ners Street. It’s a small space but they have a great wine list, cup­cakes and will make you exact­ly the kind of cock­tail you’re after. You’ll feel like a reg­u­lar after one drink. 
 
If you’re some­what of a beer enthu­sist: 
Feel like a chal­lenge to com­plete over the sum­mer? Try every beer on offer at Hashigo Zake under­neath Zib­bi­bo in the old police cells on Tarana­ki Street. It’s prob­a­bly fair to warn you in advance though that they claim to have over 200 vari­eties in stock at any one time they stock a met­ric but­t­load of beer (their site lists over 90 kinds), but at least you can order up some deli­cious­ly salty edamame as a healthy(ish) snack to go along side your hop­py delights from around the world.