A New Zealand bar has shut shop within weeks of opening because of one minor problem – it was alcohol free.

Hotelier Grady Elliot boldly opened the country’s first dry bar last month in response to a crackdown on Auckland’s liquor licensing.

TAP Bar, which charged a A$13.30 (NZ$15) entry fee and A$4.45 (NZ$5) drinks, offered late night revelers the chance to continue on partying after nightclubs closed their doors at 4am.

"Everything is tightening up, so this is a roundabout way of being able to stay out later than the current system where the whole city is shutting down at 4am,” Elliot told the NZ Herald in June.

Elliot even kept the bar open until 8am on Sundays so that his clientele ‘could head straight to church’.

But it looks like he may have overestimated the puritanical nature of our rowdy New Zealander friends.

Elliot said little money was made because the few customers they had mostly drank water.

“We gave it a shot and Auckland drinking culture just didn’t tie in with the dry bar,” Elliott told the Otago Daily Times.

“No one showed up.”

Don’t worry though, Elliot has taken it in his stride and since put the old adage ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’ into practice.

He has applied for a liquor license and TAP will reopen as a nightclub – this time with alcohol flowing.