'Harry's selling the milk bar, buy it': The story of Christchurch's boat sheds and one couple's life work

Friday, 17 June 2022

The iconic Antigua Boat Sheds in central Christchurch are 140 years old, and the owners want them to be around for another century.

“Harry’s selling the milk bar, buy it.”

It was 1986 and Mike Jones was not about to argue with his father-in-law.

At only 26 and 21 years of age, Mike and Sally Jones bought the Antigua Milk Bar, and 20 years later, they became the sixth owners of the Antigua Boat Sheds, perched on the banks of the Ōtākaro Avon River.

The distinctive striped sheds, classified as a Category 1 Heritage Building, have been part of Christchurch’s history for 140 years. Built by Lyttelton boat builders M.A Shaw and J.T Tidd in 1882, they continue to serve their original purpose of housing a range of boats for hire.

The Jones’ said they “grew up” with the sheds in their 36 years of ownership, turning what was once a simple milk bar into a popular cafe.

**READ MORE:

The Antigua Boat Sheds were built in 1882 by Lyttelton boat builders M.A Shaw and J.T Tidd.

* Christchurch's dog-friendly hospitality spots

* $50 challenge: How to spend a day in Christchurch on an (almost) $50 budget

* A historic and picture-postcard Wellington boat shed is for sale

Mike and Sally Jones say they “grew up” with the sheds in their 36 years of ownership.

Sally’s parents, Maurice and Diane Phipps, bought the building and boat hire business in 1978 and got in the young couple’s ears about buying the milk bar when it came up for sale eight years later.

Sally Jones said the biggest challenge the pair overcame in their early years was naivety. Mike was a butcher by trade and Sally worked as a nurse at the hospital.

“We worked seven days a week,” Mike Jones said.

Antigua Boat Sheds celebrate their 140th anniversary this year. This photograph was taken by Samuel Anstey in the early 1900s, who owned the sheds from 1896 to 1948.

“It was hard work, trying to learn all the payrolls and those things. We started from scratch.”

In 2006 – 20 years after buying the milk bar, the couple bought the entire building and boat hire business. They lease the end of the building to Punting on the Avon.

Mother Diane Phipps stayed involved as a silent partner, although sometimes she wasn’t so silent.

“She’s hugely passionate,” Sally Jones said of her mother.

“She comes down every now and then, unbeknown to us, and still has a cup of tea in here,” Mike Jones said.

Owners Mike and Sally Jones bought the milk bar in 1986 and have navigated through earthquakes, a pandemic and lockdowns.

They upgraded the building and put in a much-needed foundation – a decision that paid off four years later when the Christchurch earthquakes hit.

“We would have been in the river,” Sally Jones said.

“We would have had nothing.”

The Boat Sheds have been hiring out boats since 1882. This photograph was taken by Samuel Anstey in the early 1900s, who owned the sheds from 1896 to 1948.

Instead, the business was relatively unscathed, needing $70,000 worth of repairs to damaged stock and equipment as well as cracked flooring and gib. The boat deck was “all over the place”, Mike Jones said.

The then red-zoned business was closed for six weeks following the quakes, with little to no access to the building, which was patrolled by the army.

“We just had to talk really nicely to them to let us in.

“It was upsetting really, when you came in and saw the mess.”

Earthquakes are not the only rough waters the Jones’ have navigated their business through, with the Covid-19 pandemic hitting them hard.

They couldn’t have kept going without the Government wage subsidy, and were proud they retained all their staff.

“We’re definitely not through the other side yet, but we're a long way through,” Mike Jones said.

More than 200 people have worked for the Jones’, with “hundreds” more coming in and saying they had once worked there.

“The grandies bring the grandkids, and they'll say ‘oh I used to work here for old Bill back in the day and he was a miserable old sod, he gave me 50 cents for the day’ sort of thing.

“One of the old guys who came through a while ago now, he built the banana boats, that’s what we call the fibreglass boats out there. We've retired them now, but he built them here.”

The Jones’ replaced the fibreglass boats with plastic single and double kayaks when they took over the business. The fibreglass models were too easily dinged up by kayakers and required lots of time and work to repair.

Mike Jones said they didn’t plan on farewelling the sheds anytime soon, and remember fondly all the interesting characters they’ve met along the way.

“They make the work a bit more fun,” he said.