This week, if you traveled the block of Grey Street between Childers and Gladstone Roads, you’d be forgiven for having a strange little moment of deja vu. Don’t worry, you’re probably not losing the plot. You would’ve seen the familiar face of Mr Clifton’s lovely coffee shop in a new location a few blocks down the road.
On Tuesday morning, at the new, slightly earlier opening time of 6:30 am, the Mr Clifton’s team of Scott (co-owner and manager) and Jet opened the doors for business in their new, purpose-built location. For the last two months, the team of Scott, Jet, Far East Coffee founders Steve and Jo, along with long-time collaborator, fellow builder and creative, Paulus McKinnon, have been turning the white, rectangular box into the warmest little spot to get your coffee and coffee accessories.
If you’re familiar with Mr Clifton’s former location, or the much-loved former Far East Coffee cafe at their Awapuni roastery, the inside of Mr Clifton’s 126 Grey St location will feel like turning up at an old friend’s place. You’ll recognise the Parihaka Pink Dulux paint on the wall, the winning combination of clean, industrial lines with natural, leafy tendrils of climbing plants, the “bus stop” seating, and imported Belgian Beer Festival communal tables and benches. But you’ll look around and say, “I love what you’ve done with the place!”
The bones of their new space feel as warm and welcoming as the wairua that embodies it. They achieved that through their careful attention to detail and sustainable building materials. Internal walls are lined with saveBOARD, a product created in Hamilton from recycled tetra paks and soft plastics. This adds a satisfying, closed-loop feel to their sustainability efforts, as Mr Clifton’s recycles their tetra paks with Tairāwhiti Environment Centre, who then send those on to saveBoard, who then make building materials that came back to Mr Clifton’s as their new walls. They did the maths and worked out that their new walls repurposed a year and a half of Mr Clifton’s oat flatties (and other alt-milk coffees).
Overhead are 5 foam pad acoustic tiles that help reduce the noise, making the bigger space less cacophonous and more soothing for patrons and staff alike. And while creating welcoming, inclusive and gorgeous spaces for customers is a goal, they didn’t overlook staff wellbeing. They’ve given themselves little luxuries like extra space between the front counter and the kitchen bench and fridge behind them. And phase two is a spruce-up of the back space so that they have a restorative and satisfying place to take the infrequent but much-deserved breather.
At the end of the day, Mr Clifton’s continues their ambition of making a bright spot in our CBD. And as lucky as we are to have a welcoming and elegant place to connect over a hot drink, or a fortifying moment with just you and your favourite life-giving beverage, the feeling is mutual. “Our clientele are the best,” Scott says on Tuesday afternoon, sharing with me a “housewarming” chocolate slice a customer had made and brought in. While gesturing to the flowers brought in by another loyal patron, he says, “They give back to us as much as we give to them. We are so lucky to have this community. Their support and generosity is not lost on us.”
Jo recollects how great relationships with fellow business neighbours are integral to a successful and satisfying business model. They loved the “little loop that we made with Yoko Sushi and Gear Meat” at their old location. As Scott notes, “Our new neighbours have been really welcoming. We feel like we have a home to grow into.”
Be welcomed in at Mr Clifton’s new location at 126 Grey St. They have longer hours now (6:30 am - 2:00 pm) and rumour has it that there may be Saturday hours in our future.