The village declined economically from the 1980s to the 2000s as Rogernomics and changes in the fuel industry led to the closure of the Works depot, railway halt and service station.
David Lange become Prime Minister and Roger Douglas became Minister of Finance — the economic reforms undertaken by Douglas, nicknamed Rogernomics, would prove to be a defining feature of the fourth Labour government, and were deeply unpopular with Labour's traditional support base.