Our Story.

A Hastings original.

Common Room has never been just another bar.

When it opened its doors in 2013, the eastern end of Heretaunga Street was a very different place. What had once felt like a forgotten part of town was beginning to change, and Common Room became part of a new creative energy emerging in the heart of Hastings.

Over the years, it grew into one of the city’s best-known little venues — part bar, part music venue, part garden, part lounge and always a place where people could come together.

Bands played here. Artists performed here. People danced, talked, celebrated and occasionally stayed a little later than they probably intended. That was always part of its charm.

Its personality is creative, eclectic and a little unconventional, but at the same time warm, cosy and welcoming. It’s a venue with stories in its walls and the kind of atmosphere that can’t simply be designed. That character remains at the heart of Common Room today.

A new chapter

In 2024, the reins of Common Room were passed to locals Fiona Lee and Chris Whyte, owners of Off The Track and OTT In The City. They brought with them years of hospitality experience and a shared love of good food, good company and creating places where people genuinely enjoy spending time.

Now Common Room is beginning its next chapter as a private functions and events venue.

The format may have changed, but the things people have always loved about Common Room haven’t. The bar. The stage. The garden. They are still here. So is the music, the atmosphere and the quirky personality that has made the venue home.

Your night becomes part of our story

Common Room has played host to more than a decade of memorable Hastings nights. We’d love yours to be one of the next.

Whether you’re planning a birthday, reunion, wedding celebration, corporate function, hens or stag party, or something completely your own, talk to us about making Common Room yours for the occasion.