Front Bit: Closed cafe at Whanganui Airport not a good look

After statues have fallen, cities and streets have been renamed and defenceless reputations destroyed; after the past has been revised, sanitised, sterilised and recast with acceptable characters; when we have defamed the colourful and elevated the bland, will history students have the courage to ask, "Whose version are we learning now?"

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Councillor Philippa Baker-Hogan is right to question the logic of keeping the South Beach Cafe at Whanganui Airport closed while hoping to find someone to take over the lease.
It's just not a good look.

Whanganui Airport: No cafe, no welcome, no go. Picture / Paul Brooks

Years ago it was believed there were people in this town actively working to keep the place small, quiet and stagnant, perpetuating the common perception that Whanganui was a sleepy backwater settlement and wanted to stay that way.

It led to the myth that we turned down the chance to be a university town (it was never offered) and made us, unfairly, an object of fun and derision.

Could it be true, after all?

The airport is one of the gateways into Whanganui, where many get their first glimpse of the place and form their first judgment. What is their first impression? A modern, empty building. No chance to get a coffee while waiting for someone, and no chance to sit and sip on a latte while waiting to take a plane to Auckland. In fact, the whole building is closed to the public except when planes arrive and depart.

It's no good telling arrivals there used to be a cafe, but, all is not lost, there's a drinks dispenser over there. That's what we got when we closed the cafe, laid off the loyal staff and mothballed the equipment. Perhaps someday, someone will see the potential and take out a lease, but wouldn't it be better if they could see a working business and get a much better first impression?

Air Chathams is working hard, doing its best to keep this city on the flight path: The least we could do is help out with an operating cafe and friendly people to make coffee, serve food and greet our visitors.

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Henry Ford was a Nazi sympathiser. I guess that means all Ford vehicles will be taken off the road, their factories dismantled and the name removed from history?