Christchurch's nightlife is about to get a serious boost as the first bars along the $130 million Avon River strip open.

The complex, known as the Terraces, will see 20 bars and restaurants brought back to the quake-ravaged CBD.

After four long years, the final touches are finally underway.

The first three: Fat Eddies, Kong and Original Sin, cost over $10 million, and will open their doors at the beginning of September.

Seventeen others, built by property magnate Antony Gough at a cost of $120 million, will follow before the end of the year.

"We're aiming for November," Mr Gough says, "That's when the buildings will be finishedâ€¦ we'll be handing these buildings over to our tenants in probably September.

Before the quakes the central Sol Square was the city's main late-night attraction. Prior to that it was the Strip.

Now the Terraces are being sold as the grand return of nightlife to the CBD.

"This always has been and always will be the premium hospo offering in the city," Richard Peebles from Peebles Group says.

The complex is inspired by the alleyways of Melbourne with interlocking passageways and balconies across two stories of venues.

"Night life in Christchurch has been pretty boring, and I'm sure that this will be the light that moths will come to," says nightclub developer Max Bremner.

Newshub.