B-Guided sat down with Nick McCaw, one of the team behind Agents & Merchants, Racket, 1885 Britomart and the soon to be opened outdoor garden bar.
 

In 2004 journalist Peter Calder wrote for the Historic Places Trust that Auckland could make peace with its‘demolition-happy past’ with a $350 million heritage development package to restore and revitalise part of the city ‘that has been among its seediest areas for more than 30 years’.

That development package was Britomart. Located on Auckland’s waterfront, it is home to the city’s transportcentre, but more interestingly, it features a collection of listed heritage buildings that have become home to quirky fashion stores, design studios, cafes, offices and bars. A quick search online reveals a playful collection of events, activities and other reasons to visit the precinct.

One of the most recent additions is 1885, a bar set inside the historic Stanbeth building. The design team behind the project have made features of the restored brick and exposed kauri beams and the bar service is top notch. The cocktail list and cellar stacks up with some of the best in the world and the place has been humming since it opened in September.

Business developer Nick McCaw is one of team of four enthusiasts aged between 28 and 34 years who are behind an impressive three bars in the area. He says they couldn’t help but jump at the chance to be involved with taking Britomart into the future. ‘These buildings represent an age in New Zealand’s history where commerce and industry were emerging and flourishing. Britomart and downtown Auckland were the centre of New Zealand’s early trading with the world. We find the mix of old buildings and new attitudes is unique to New Zealand and particularly to Auckland, so of course we wanted to get onboard.’

The owners are a group of friends whose first bar was Christchurch’s Cartel, which opened in 2007. Cartel instantly made its mark on the city with quirky marketing and design gimmicks like hot water bottles and blankets available for the use of customers. In 2009 they opened Agents and Merchants, a wine and tapas bar, and another bar, Racket, both in the Britomart precinct. 1885 was opened in September 2010: the team has clearly been busy.

It took nine months of solid work to create the 1885 space. ‘Part of the entire building had to be redeveloped and the Heritage Places Trust were involved as it is a listed building.’
‘The team we were using and especially Nat [architect Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects] were enthusiastic about the inherent heritage value. Personally I have an out-of-control appreciation, actually an insatiable appreciation, for heritage spaces and the redesign of them.’

For McCaw, Britomart is the only place in the city with such an impressive collection of historic buildings, ‘and through good management and good fortune this area was saved. Now it’s in the hands of a good developer and being redesigned for these purposes. It’s far more authentic and based on very long history of the area rather than just being an arbitrary cluster of shops and businesses. All the new stuff happening is very exciting.’

While McCaw admits he finds it hard to relax in one of his bar spaces as he always sees things that need improvement, he does hang out in 1885 a lot. Yet as the dedicated ideas man from the group he’s already working on the next project.

The team have set their hearts on an exciting new outdoor garden bar which is due to open in February. Currently a carpark, directly adjacent to 1885, there are bold plans to create an interesting and surprising urban oasis.

‘We’ll be bringing in a lot of trees, twenty mature trees in fact, and we’ll be serving pizza.’ There’ll be large projector screens making it a space to watch games, enjoy music or otherwise. The team see the new space – unnamed as yet – for more relaxed daytime activity rather than the usual night-time crowd.

With the string of relatively quick-succession hospitality success McCaw is a little coy about what makes their ventures work from the get-go.
‘It’s a tough one,’ he says. ‘Basically I believe the level of involvement you have with each project is what allows you to do well or not. We personally think the only way to give that proper level of commitment is to own it yourself.’

‘The people we respect are the people who’ve done it themselves. The successful ones are those who have a real passion for hospitality rather than treating it like a job or a business. Those are the people who have endured.’

Ultimately McCaw invites people to come and check out the area. ‘We would like Britomart to become one of the must-see spots in and around Auckland. There are a bunch of people working their butts off to create some really high-quality and cool things happen here. What makes Britomart different are the buildings as well as the proximity to water and the city. More than anything we see the long term potential of Britomart to become the new urban heart of Auckland city.’

Thanks to B-Guided for permission to run this article. Check out the latest edition of B-Guided magazine on a newsstand near you for more fantastic articles on fashion, design and hospitality.