Theme bar for pride of the south

By SIMON HENDERY

Speight's, that iconic beer label of the Deep South, is about to get a high-profile home in Auckland.

Growing demand for the southern brew in the big city has encouraged the owner of Central Otago's historic Cardrona Hotel to invest in a lookalike pub in Mt Eden.

The pub, on Normanby Rd, will be called the Cardrona Speight's Ale House.

Sales of the beer have increased 25 per cent in the past three years, making it one of Lion Breweries' fastest growing brands.

John McConnell, the company's brand director for Speight's, said sales growth in Auckland was reasonably high a combination of Aucklanders turning to the beer and Southerners moving north.



The Auckland Cardrona, due to open in the middle of next month, will be the country's third Speight's "theme bar", after Dunedin and Wellington. The Auckland version will have an exterior modelled on its 139-year-old Otago namesake, which has previously been used in Speight's advertising.

One of the investors in the project is British businessman Mark Westcott, who owns the original Cardrona Hotel. This year Westcott embarked on a $1 million extension and renovation programme for the Central Otago pub, adding 21 bedrooms.



Major brewers Lion and DB Breweries have embraced the theme bar concept as a way of encouraging drinkers back into pubs as beer consumption declines.

The trend is not confined to a proliferation of Irish and English theme bars.

Auckland bar owners Mike and Jacqui Blank and Trevor and Lynn Ready last week opened De Fontein in Mission Bay Auckland's third "Belgian beer cafe" specialising in Lion brewed and distributed Belgian-style beers, including the fast-growing Stella Artois brand.

The Readys also own central Auckland's Occidental and Mt Eden's De Post Belgian bars.