Over the next two posts the New Brighton Residents Association is going to take you back in time (as it sometimes does) to a time when the suburb was given life and colour by a couple of entrepreneurs now forgotten.
A time from which some of our current calcitrant land-bankers could learn about the spirit of enterprise, putting New Brighton on the map instead of sitting on rotting buildings for a decade or more.
A lot of people probably would not be aware our first pier was privately owned. It was built by a private company, opened in 1894 and within a year passed into the hands of Lyttelton store owner Charles Agar.
For a period a small coastal steamer known as the ‘John Anderson’ made trips to the pier from Lyttelton.
In the 1940 & 50s it cost a penny to access it and at the entrance there was an arcade for the kids where pennies went instead into machines on the wall during a time we call the pre-electronic era (a couple of machines on display at the New Brighton Museum).
On the 15th of August 1950 there was an auction but was passed in due to no bids from the floor. Former owner Charles Agar and had died almost twenty years earlier and it was proving difficult to find an owner for the old pier and associated buildings enclosing a milk bar, tearooms, amusement arcade, and 60 bathing sheds.
The advert said it was “a wonderful chance for a capable man” and that pitch immediately reduced the number of potential buyers (someone said). Agar had been trying for some time to get the government/council to buy it as he struggled to make any money from the complex.
This story begins with a Mr Duffield who finally stepped up although not really wanting the 68-year-old 600 foot pier, it came with the buildings and he wanted to open a restaurant, and the Council as owners of the land insisted the state of the structure be dealt with.
The former favoured fishing spot was to become a pain in the arse as it was in urgent need of repair, and over the years debate raged between saving or demolishing.
It had been closed to the public for several years due to its “dangerous state” and the City Council given Duffield six months from July 1963 to mend or remove.
Being an enterprising fellow Duffield offered to sell the pier for one shilling with the catch of taking on the remediation job. It was during the early-sixties the Pier and Foreshore Society was formed an set about raising money to preserve this “priceless” landmark, but after raising 1,000 pounds the estimated cost of restoration eventually indicated a total twenty times that amount with the most serious damage to piles beneath the sand.
Duffield tried very hard to get the Council to buy: “There is tremendous interest in this landmark. It is the only entertainment pier in New Zealand.” “I think it could be made into a place for children’s rides like a merry go round or small train.”
After resisting the Councils demand to do something, the Council lost patience and threatened to cancel his lease, and Duffield finally agreed in 1965 to have it demolished by two bull dozers and piles cut off 12 inches below the sand and anything not salvageable burnt on the beach. Much of the planking was hardwood and like iron. He advertised suggesting the contractor could dismantle the structure and take all the good bits in lieu of an invoice.
With the removal of his main impediment he got his Ocean View restaurant back on track and it became a go-to-place for dinner, private events and was advertised as being on the “golden shores of the South Pacific” (actually Brighton Beach). It was a venue with nice food but lacking one ingredient, booze.
Duffield battled away for a liquor licence pointing out New Brighton was becoming an important visitor destination with a late shopping night on a Saturday. He eventually succeeded to become one of the few in Canterbury to gain a liquor licence for drinks with meals.
The permission to sell alcohol to patrons was to play a big part in what was to follow. Ocean View Restaurant opened seven days a week from 10.30am till 2am and midst it all was dancing, a show with meal and guest singers
The 200 seat venue became a popular spot for hosting dignitaries for instance in 1963 the Soviet Charge D’Affairs came down from Wellington and had dinner with the member of Parliament for the area, and no doubt sent notes about New Brighton back home.
Marise Chamberlain (featured in an earlier NBRA post and currently living in South Brighton), the bronze medal 800 metre athlete from the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games was hosted by the New Brighton Business Assn to a celebratory dinner in her honour when she returned.
Sam Duffield was a genuine entrepreneur and always looking for ways to promote New Brighton and his establishment. One of his more audacious was inviting (along with a couple of other backers), a young lady to New Zealand by the name of Miss Mandy Rice-Davies (GOOGLE for information of her background).
Suffice to say she was a high-class call girl and managed to get in involved in a scandal in England involving politicians, including spy allegations and sex rocking the government at the time.
Duffield had booked her to do two half hour shows at the Ocean View. The 250 pound fee (the change to dollars and cents was still three years away) and with the average house price being about 3,300 pounds ($6,600), it was a sizeable amount.
Prime Minister Keith Holyoake got a bit irked with journalists in August 1965 asking when the Government was going to make a decision to let her into the country. His response at one point was:
“We don’t run cabinet meetings for journalists”. Eventually the application was declined due less to the reputation of Rice-Davies as to not wanting to upset number 10 Downing Street.
Duffield was never short of ideas to boost his business and along with booze with a meal, provided music and even ventured into live performances and accepted a proposition to have short play performances making it the first theatre restaurant in Christchurch.
It was not till the advent of Excaliburs Theatre Restaurant (of which I was part of in the 1990s) did this concept reappear (at the former Coachman in Gloucester St).
Just as Duffield was getting into the groove of keeping the Ocean View Restaurant buzzing he died suddenly in the flat above in April 1967.
Just over a year later the Ocean View was up for tender including the lease from Council till 1983. Also for sale was his beloved 1947 Ford Mercury V-8 usually parked outside the building.
The scene was set for the next chapter in this story…