Springfield locals more worried about feral cats than rude cafe

Wednesday, 3 July 2019

The Springfield Store & Cafe has one of the lowest online ratings of any cafe across the country. (Video first published in June 2019)

The small rural town of Springfield has been thrust into the national spotlight this week, over a pair of cafe owners dubbed the rudest in New Zealand.

Those who choose to live in the township are unaffected by the extra attention, but they want the world to know there is more to Springfield than a notorious cafe.

It seems most customers who enter the Springfield Store and Cafe leave with a story – of being abused, shouted at, chased away or left in tears, to enjoying the unique banter offered by its proprietors, Karyn and Donald Cullingford.

If you thought it would be the talk of the town at the Springfield Township Committee on Tuesday night, it was not – the cafe didn't come up.

There's more to Springfield than the notorious cafe, such as its giant donut.

* What it's really like eating at Springfield Store & Café

Springfield Township Committee chair Graeme Dawson says Springfield is 'a normal little community'.

* Praise among horror stories from Canterbury's Springfield cafe

* Springfield Store and Cafe: Come for the award-winning pies, stay for the abuse**

Springfield has been the centre of media attention recently, but the locals remain unaffected.

The hot button issues? New rubbish bins and a revamp of 'the pit' – a piece of land the committee is working to redevelop with a pump track, walking track and community barbecues.

Sean Ellis, dressed in shorts and Red Band gumboots despite the mid-winter chill, talks about a feral cat in his freezer as long as his arm, killed by a car while it fed on road kill, as he waits for the last committee members to trickle in. The subject is a personal hang-up for the committee secretary.

Once the meeting starts, talk turns to the logistics of filling in some post holes from a fence that was removed ('we don't want horses or people to break their leg') and the 'ongoing saga of the rubbish bins' outside the public toilets.

Springfield Store and Cafe co-owner Karyn Cullingford is infamous for her rude customer service.

When asking about the recent storm of publicity the cafe attracted, Stuff is told the residents have been unaffected by the attention.

Of course, several have experienced their own run-ins with the Cullingfords, and these days few locals venture in.

The Cullingfords, who were absent when Stuff visited the store on Monday, earlier admitted they get grumpy with customers, but said they were not there for their personalities and dislike customers without manners.

Contracting company co-owner owner Robbie Curle talks about the time he was abused for going in and telling them the water had been turned off to their store.

Springfield Store and Cafe co-owner Donald Cullingford.

Hire company co-owner Cath Barnett says the negative TripAdvisor reviews for one store shouldn't deter people from making a pit stop. Springfield, she says, has lots to offer those passing through.

The township has three other cafes, a garage and a pub, she points out, along with the giant doughnut, a playground and the historic railway station.

Committee chair Graeme Dawson wants to set the story straight. Springfield, located about 65 kilometres west of Christchurch and the last petrol stop on State Highway 73 before Arthur's Pass, is a 'normal' little town.

Here, community spirit runs deep and everyone pitches in.

'If you hear that meeting tonight, most of the stuff we get done here, we're not asking for money for it. We're getting it done ourselves,' Ellis says.

Former Selwyn mayor Bill Woods, who owns the building the store is in, points out the town hall was built using money raised by locals over 10 years and was 'only four-and-sixpence short' when they built it. It opened in 1954.

The church down the road was built in 1885 from timber donated by a family that still lives in the area.

Ellis says there is 'more history in this little town than most towns in the South Island'.

Meanwhile, down the highway in Sheffield, the owner of The Famous Sheffield Pie Shop says the actions of the Springfield couple 9km away may have inadvertently harmed their reputation.

More than once people have confused the two shops, likely because both have award-winning pies, and recent stories about the Springfield Cafe and Store had prompted more.

Loretta Paterson said she and her husband had worked hard to ensure Sheffield Pies was a welcoming and friendly place.

'[We] pride ourselves on that reputation,' she says.

Paterson says customers' experiences at the Springfield Cafe and Store was 'quite sad for the rest of Springfield because it probably puts people off stopping completely'.

Thankfully any confusion, so far, had not been reflected on TripAdvisor, Paterson says.

'Our reviews are pretty good actually.'