Others of note

Four Kings - the bar is actually under street level, ubiquitous pokies to pay the rent, used to be an underground boxing ring, a pool hall and a spacies arcade. Cnr Taranaki St/Dixon St/Courtenay Pl.

-

Hashigo Zake - This former prison cell deserves a mention - just for those who actually do appreciate a good beer among the grot of the night. Strictly quality beer on tap, unfortunately with prices to match.
-

There's a string of pool bars and holes on Courtenay Place, but it's almost a statistical impossibility to have an enjoyable time there these days with the drunk kids and awful nightclub racket. Not recommended.

-

Push on to the Cambridge Hotel where the Grot never leaves:

-

Studenty? Medusa in the old red-light district, Cuba/Vivian St. A dismal hole, carved out of the rubble of decayed olde-Wellington. Young and music-conscious crowd though.

The most determined might make it into Newtown, where the like of the Office and the Zoo Bar will fit any bill by that drunken stage.

Waterloo and Stadium Bar

The Waterloo, another den situated in the bottom-left of this charming, lichen-green deco monstrosity. Like its name suggests, it's a dying throwback to a once glorious era, frequented by the ghosts of docksiders, clerks and funnily, backpackers. Hardly worth stopping when just round the corner is...
PASS

...Stadium Bar! This one ticks all the boxes and a couple more:
Grotty
Scabby carpets
Blue collar patrons
History
Bonus: Just visible is a chalkboard advertising $10 jugs - including Tuatara (a delicious NZ boutique beer, never seen on tap at that price, welcome change from the awful swill like Tui etc)
STOP

Trax

And here it is - TRAX bar and cafe. Situated in the gloomiest corner of Wellington Railway Station, Trax's grottiness is apparent. Don't let the Steinlager badge and 'treed outdoor plaza' fool you - this is, as it ever was, the unholiest of drinking dens, found the world over - a train station tavern. Of course since the rent is obscene in Wellington, it has the obligatory gambling machines and sports plasmas, to suck that extra cash from society's dregs.
Dodgy trainriders heading out of the city into the Northern Wastelands - and even worse: bureaucrats and junior government ministers - are the only view to distract one from one's watery handle. Has the advantage of being an easy meeting point, and stumbling distance to The Thistle.
STOP

Chicago and Latitude

As indicated in the byline, 'classic' and 'kiwi' is this place's shtick. The poor lettering and dated fern logo suggest it would be favourable, but the 'for lease' sign and the piles of wood in the doorway may indicate the gentry has alas got its claws in. Check on the night, but otherwise...
PASS

Not really a goer either, but included just for the sorriness of it all. Chicago was built as part of some Minister or other's great drive to develop the Queens Wharf, only to have it shunned for years by the citizens. It hung on though, and is now the hub of a disjointed, unfocussed, disloyal diaspora of drinkers passing through on their way elsewhere. And corporate functions. Shabby maybe but not in the way we like.
PASS

the Thistle

A must on the Grotty crawler's map, the Thistle still remains. It has gone through somewhat of a redo or two since the maori chiefs used to drink here, and even does weddings for arts students! Although still haunted, as throughout its history, by teetering one-legged reprobates, the exterior, the name and possibly some of the clientèle will be the only links back to that memorable era.
STOP

Wired

Unfortunately for those nostalgic for the shabby old days, Wellington waterfront has undergone somewhat of a gentrification of late. The fenced off, hazardous wharf areas may still harbour some of those dingy diamonds we seek, but due to the increasing presence of cruise ships and sevens fans, monied structures have sprouted up everywhere. These include the Statistics NZ building, TelstraClear sweatshops and the like.
All of which means the guys in the orange jackets all direct you to places like this - a cafe, with paninis and shite. There are a couple of other ground-floor drinkeries, but they're dingy in a corporate rather than grotty/historic way. Avoid the area, unless refuelling.
PASS

Flamingo

This one would have completely fitted the bill. Set in a dismal industrial area surrounded by bait+tackle shops and wall cladding warehouses, Flamingo has a perfect view of the trainyard and motorway flyover. Also, being on the "Old Hutt Road" hints at a location long past its heyday.
Sadly, earthquake regulations have forced the closure of this faded relic of Wellingtonian decrepitude.
PASS