The Good, the Bad and Petone
Saturday, 31 August 2024
Wellington hospo is in a bit of a doldrums at the moment. Everyone is broke; everything is expensive; and the public service’s collapse has pulled a large number of the rich and hungry out of the capital’s high end restaurants.
But there is a bright side. While Wellington’s woes have been extremely well documented, there is a place where the sun continues to shine.
No, it’s not Australia. It’s a bit closer. It’s Petone.
Huh? Petone? The place with the terrible traffic? Well, yes. While its restaurant scene is not as well known as Wellington City’s, the Hutt Valley suburb has a thriving hospitality locale that some say is better than Wellington’s.
The Post spoke with four business owners based in the suburb, and, while it would be a lie to say the industry was in a good place at the moment, all spoke highly of Petone and its many advantages for restaurateurs.
Petone (correctly spelled as Pito-one, meaning the end of the sand beach) has a long and rich history. In terms of European settlement, that began as early as 1840.
After flooding in the late 19th century chased the majority of settlers out to Thorndon, stop banks were quickly built which allowed the area to flourish into an industrial hub.
For a while, Petone’s reputation was pretty heavy.
However, over the past several decades, gentrification has waved its fairy wand over the suburb. Now, the state homes there go for over $1 million, and families stroll down the streets with prams.
Jackson Street is where the majority of Petone’s shops and restaurants can be found.
The 2.5km strip has close to 235 shops, cafés, and eateries along it, Jackson Street Programme co-ordinator Hellen Swales confirmed. Of these, 68 of them are restaurants and cafés.
‘We have it all’
The Jackson Street Programme business hub was created to encourage the economic revitalisation of the street.
Swales said the area’s hospitality culture was pushed during the height of the pandemic, with the programme encouraging cafés and restaurants to create a signature dish that they could become known for.
She said part of the street’s appeal was how handy it was. Only an eight minute drive from Lower Hutt’s city centre, there was also a well-connected network of trains and buses for people to use to get there.
“You know, here we really have it all.”
Cate Hall owns Small Batch café and Ripe Coffee roasters with her partner, Jake Hall. The two moved to the suburb over 20 years ago, she said, relocating from Belfast.
While they didn’t know anyone in the area initially, they immediately felt accepted by the wider business community.
“There's a great community here in different trades, that have been based in Petone for decades,” she said.
In the two decades since she moved, Hall said she’s seen the suburb change quite remarkably, moving away from its industrial roots to a more family orientated, business-friendly suburb.
The change could be seen in the variety of her customers, she joked.
“You know, we get the tradespeople in. We get the ladies who lunch. We've had people signing their divorce papers in our café, people having pregnancy tests. You couldn't really make it up.”
The state of hospitality at the moment is hard to describe to outsiders, Hall said. Sales are down, with people buying less food and coffee due to having less disposable income to go around.
It was important to keep in contact with other café owners just to check on how everyone was doing.
Luckily, Small Batch had a devoted community of regulars, who enjoyed coming to the café, she said.
The café was recently lauded for its toastie entry into the Great NZ Toastie Takeover competition ‒ and while they didn’t win, Hall said she was still thrilled to be shortlisted on their first time entering the competition.
Hall said, despite popular misconceptions among Wellingtonians, the Hutt Valley has everything.
“It's got great hospitality venues. It's got families, it's got the Hutt River, it's got the beach, it's got all the bush tracks. It's a great place.”
Parking is contentious in Central Wellington, but street parking is still readily available in Petone.
The area has managed to retain its classic heritage buildings, adding to the charm, Hall said.
While not anywhere close to two decades, Baylands Brewery and Taproom managing director Aidan Styles says they’ve been in Petone for a decent amount of time ‒ 10 years.
He was drawn to the area due to its location, he said, especially its closeness to Jackson St’s restaurants and shops.
And with Wellington city already the home of several craft breweries, Lower Hutt was starting to call his name, he said.
“We really wanted to be part of the community out here, rather than just being like another CBD brewery.”
A lot of friend groups come out to the suburb to do bar crawls, he said, hitting up the three different breweries in the area, and the taproom draws in a lot of families with its food. Sundays are always big family days.
With the taproom hitting the two-year milestone in December, Styles said the brewery was becoming more established as a place to go for locals.
They had taken part in Wellington on a Plate for Burger Wellington, which had been “insane,” he said.
Styles said they’re looking forward to the cycleway being opened up, as they have a few customers who cycle in over the weekends.
“Once that walkway and stuff's all finished, that would be quite cool as a tourism gateway.”
Has the suburb changed much in 10 years? Since the pandemic, more people are working locally, Styles said, and not going into town.
He said the 5pm after-work crowd has almost vanished, but Saturday is always busy, most likely due to the shopping centre across the road.
About 60% of their customer base are regulars, he said.
Because of this, they were always working on “mixing things up” food wise, making sure things were still interesting to the people coming back.
“Petone is coming a little bit more of a beer hotspot.”
Comes & Goes owner Barry Li said his café has been on Jackson St since December last year.
He’d always wanted to open a café, and when the spot opened he immediately jumped at the opportunity ‒ turning down a job at Parliament when he saw the vacant lot.
“My dream was opening a restaurant, but I want to start with a café first.”
His staff are all great, and Li said the business is already starting to pick up, gathering a dedicated group of regulars and starting to find its groove.
“For me, it's quite a good location. Always busy.”
Li said he started his own café because he wanted to make his own food, a kind of Asian fusion.
Speciality coffee is also on the menu, including Thai and a biscoff waffle that is proving very popular. People drive from Porirua to try it after seeing it on Instagram, he said.
“Everybody enjoys the food.”
Abandoned Brewery founder Tim Ward opened his Petone taproom in February this year.
Ward grew up in Petone, and had always wanted to return to the area. The brewery had started in Lower Hutt in 2017, so there was already a foothold.
The beer-meister, who is going to hit his 30-year milestone of working in the hospitality industry this year, said his home suburb was somewhere he had always wanted to open a taproom.
The area was large and made up of small historic buildings, which generally prevented chain stores from emerging, he said. He praised Jackson Street Programme, which he said had welcomed the business in with open arms.
“You get a high concentration of small, unique businesses, which provides a really great character experience for shoppers.
“Jackson Street has maintained its feel through its architecture and heritage.”
Lower Hutt’s central city had fallen victim to a common town planning mistake, Ward said, in that it established a mall which cut off its surrounding shops.
“It’s very hard to recover from that.”
Jackson St was ideal as it was in walking distance of plenty of housing. This was perfect for craft beer, which was a lunchtime to early evening drink, he said.
“People not having to take the Uber, not having to pay for parking or organise designated drivers, and being able to just rock up and have a beer and go to one or two places on the same night out is really desirable.”
He encouraged more tap rooms to open up in the area, as it would create a “really good vibe.”
In the 30 years he’d been in hospitality, he’d never seen things this tough, he said.
However, with hard work and some “good old hospitality and innovation,” it was possible to pull through.
“We can establish ourselves and survive through a really difficult time and set ourselves up well for when the economy bounces back.”