Stamford Plaza Auckland,
22 Lower Albert Street,
Auckland Central
Auckland,


(09) 309 8888

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3 out of 5

There's a stretch limousine outside the Stamford Plaza Hotel and Guns'n'Roses are just hours away from taking the stage at the Vector Arena. It can only mean one thing. Well, actually no. On a busy Friday night there's no sign of Axl Rose, and the stretch limo is inhabited only by shiny, shiny college students heading off to a pre-ball party. There's no random rock star spotting to be had so we head on into the hotel's lobby bar Knight's Lounge, to catch the last rays of happy hour that lasts an admirable three hours from 4.30pm to 7.30pm.

Word is obviously getting around town about the half price drinks. Normally Auckland's lobby bars are relatively quiet affairs with the hushed conversations of Japanese tourists peppered with a few telltale words like Kelly Tarlton's, but tonight's busier than the final celebrations for a gender re-assignment conference at the Sheraton in Bangkok. It's a bit disconcerting actually. In a spacious lobby bar of an international hotel, the last thing you expect to do is queue two deep at the bar for a couple of half-price cocktails.

Once we've secured our discount Mojitos we ferret out a couple of seats. Although the Stamford's lobby is expansive and high-ceilinged, smart design work has divided the area up into smaller conversation hubs, each centred on a couple of stylish sofas. Tonight's the kind of all-inclusive Friday night crowd you'd expect to see in a hundred bars around town. A few guys in striped-shirts are drinking draught Stella and watching sport with the sound down on a plasma screen, and groups of women are settling into Sex in the City style Cosmopolitans. As well as Stella, there are Macs, Speight's Distinction and Steinlager Premium Light on tap, and a smallish list of wines by the glass. By the bottle has more options, but that's really only relevant if you're dining in the adjacent lobby restaurant.

With friendly bar staff and buzzy atmosphere, the ambience at Knight's Lounge is definitely enjoyable, especially on a busy Friday night. It's a good place to start the night before kicking on to a restaurant or a more intimate bar, but you never do forget you're in a slightly impersonal hotel lobby.

But when well-made cocktails are only seven bucks is that really a big problem?