Bar Bodega is closing down after 25 years in Wellington.

It has hosted indie legends from The White Stripes to New Order's Peter Hook, and now Wellington's renowned Bar Bodega is closing down.

The Ghuznee St venue started life in Willis St, and has been operating for 25 years under the same name.

Bodega owner Murray Hepple said he and co-owner Catherine Popert tried to buy the building but lost out to a company owned by skincare queen Elizabeth Babalich.

MAARTEN HOLL/ FAIRFAX NZ Graeme Downes from The Verlaines sound checking at Bar Bodega in 2010.

"They have different plans for the building and that's fair enough," Hepple said.

While a final date is yet to be decided, Hepple said it would be within six months – with some "great gigs" lined up for the farewell months.

"At the moment we've got no plans to open anything similar but this incarnation of Bodega is over – but I imagine the next six months will be interesting."

FAIRFAX NZ Bar Bodega's main bar is lovingly chaperoned from its old spot on Willis St to its new Ghuznee St site in September 2002.

Big acts to have performed at Bodega include Kiss's Ace Frehley, Ultravox's Midge Ure, High Fidelity author Nick Hornby, The Buzzcocks, Tim Finn, The Misfits, Roni Size, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Ghostface Killah and Fat Freddy's Drop.

Phoenix Foundation guitarist Samuel Scott said the looming closure was "a great shame", especially in the wake of Mighty Mighty's closure.

Scott remembered playing both Bodegas and seeing gigs by the likes of Dunedin's The Clean and High Dependency Unit.

CAMERON BURNELL/FAIRFAX NZ Restaurateurs Lorenzo, left, and Leonardo Bresolin bought the former Bodega building in 2014.

"It was mesmerising. I saw some really important gigs that changed my life."

It was difficult for venues, and the solution might lie in making gigs alcohol-free and all open to all ages, he said.

Music critic Grant Smithies also lamented the loss of a venue that had a venerable history and hosted "many fantastic bands".

"It was big enough for the international acts but seedy enough to have fun. It had a nicely shambolic vibe. It's a place with a noble history of raucous rock 'n' roll."

Former owner Fraser McInnes said the news was sad, but Hepple and Popert had done a good job in an increasingly difficult climate.

"The hospitality industry is always changing, so who knows what the future will bring."

McInnes said it could be tough to cover production and publicity costs for live gigs in an era where many fans pre-loaded rather than spent up at the bar.

The original Bar Bodega opened in Willis St in August 1991 amid a nightlife renaissance in the capital.

By 2002, when it was forced out by the inner-city bypass, Bodega moved to the present site and had become a pioneer in the nascent craft beer scene and helped set the format for other alternative music venues around the city.

Indie godfather Chris Knox was enamoured of the place and relished the intimacy of the venue, which needed just 50 people to make a crowd.

"It's a certain sort of greasy patina that this place has," Knox said fondly. "It's great to play on a stage that has a bit of history."

In 2014 Lorenzo and Leonardo Bresolin bought the former Bodega Building on Willis St and turned it into The Bresolin restaurant.