Invercargill nightlife given a boost with Crafty’s
Jeremy Hawkes wants to be clear, his new venue Crafty’s isn’t a pub, and it’s definitely not a restaurant.
‘‘It’s that middle ground in between that Invercargill’s been missing.’’
Hawkes has spent the past eight months renovating the old Paddington Arms, previously owned by his parents Graham and Denise Hawkes.
It’s been hard work, but worth it for the demand he and wife Keiko have seen since the venue soft-opened on Wednesday night.
‘‘The feedback has been absolutely incredible . . . it’s really exciting,’’ he said.
The venue, like its namesake, is focussed on craft beers and New Zealand produce.
The 17 tap beers are sourced about as close to Southland as the couple can get, with the vast majority of tap beers coming from microbreweries in the area, whilst wine is sourced from family wineries in the South Island.
Spirits are also sourced from New Zealand, with standard pours being provided by Broken Heart Spirits.
The menu is based around street food, and Hawkes said about 90% of it could be made gluten-free, with about 80% of the menu adaptable to be vegan.
Hawkes said he had observed a real need for the type of venue in Invercargill based on his years of experience with his food trailer The Saucy Chook.
‘‘We go to beer festivals in our food trailer, we’ve been doing it for a number of years . . . because craft beer with street food are a good pair, and every time we’ve done the Southland one we’ve realised there was so many people that wanted to get in, but there is nowhere in town that was really catering for them,’’ he said.
‘‘There are a lot of brewers here now, you’ve got Four Mates brewery, Tuatara have their brand Gadoochi, there’s hop session, so they’re just in Invercargill alone . . . we felt that Invercargill needed this type of venue . . . judging by the bookings and emails we’ve got coming in, Invercargill was ready for it.’’