The great icecream divide
Iconic shop’s move sparks concern over city’s split
The owner of Hastings ice cream company Rush Munro’s says plans for a petrol station to replace its 90-year-old ice cream shop will further create “two very distinct” sides to the city.
The iconic business has been operating for almost a century in Hastings, including 90 years at its current home at 704 Heretaunga St West, which boasts gardens and fish ponds.
As the street suggests, it is located on the western side of Hastings.
It was revealed last week there are now plans to turn that property into a 24/7 petrol station.
Rush Munro’s wanted to continue trading at the site for many years to come, but new property owners advised them their lease would not be renewed.
They stopped trading at the site on Thursday, October 27, and move to a new site on the eastern side of Hastings CBD, known as Albert Square.
“It will mean a change in the landscape,” Rush Munro’s owner Vaughan Currie said.
“The irony will be that you will have two very distinct areas in the city.
“You will have everything to do with light commercial services and supplies in the western end, it seems from what is occurring, and you are going to have your hospitality and consumable retail items located at the eastern end.”
New modern stores and hospitality venues have been popping up on the eastern side of Hastings CBD, buoyed by investment in the redeveloped Opera House and Municipal Building.
But Currie said they had wanted to keep their site for another 90 years on the western side of Hastings.
“It’s a site we would have loved to have retained, but it was out of our reach to contemplate purchasing the site [last year]. It wasn’t an option for us.”
He said he only learned last week that it was going to potentially become a petrol station, when contacted by Hawke’s Bay Today.
“My initial reaction was it is hard to see on balance how the Hastings community benefits from another service station versus losing a piece of their heritage.”
However, he said they were “really enthusiastic” about moving to Albert Square, where they plan to be based for four years. That site was due to open this week.
Hastings councillor Damon Harvey earlier said the move to replace Rush Munro’s with a petrol station was “disappointing”.
“I would have thought that there’s enough petrol stations along Heretaunga St and I would rather see something that enhances this end of the city,” Harvey said.
The company will operate from two purpose-built containers at Albert Square. Seating and shade will also be added. They will continue making icecream at the existing factory on Williams St in Hastings.
There are plans to open a new home in Hastings in the future.
Movers and shakers in the CBD
The Hastings District Council continues to undertake an extensive series of upgrades to the CBD area, but there are still a few gaps to fill in its revitalisation plans.
The council recently publicly notified their proposal to demolish the heritage buildings at 206 and 218 Queen St West and 223 Heretaunga St West, to make way for inner city housing, a carpark, and more.
The building was formerly the home of the Hawke’s Bay Farmers Cooperative Association, and more recently Briscoes.
But several notable buildings still remain empty, including the eyecatching former Westpac branch building at 103 Heretaunga St.
Bayleys real estate agent Rollo Vavasour said there were no updates as yet about when someone might move into the green five-storey building, which has been vacant since March 2021, or who might move in.
Heretaunga St properties at 207 Heretaunga St East and 131 Heretaunga St East, formerly La Petite Chocolate and Breakers restaurant respectively, remain empty as well.
Property owner Michael Whittaker said at this stage he couldn’t say who would fill the spaces and at what stage, but there was no shortage of people keen to move in.
“Filling the vacant spots is not the issue, we’ve got a long list of people interested in coming into the city,” Whittaker said.
“For us, it is more about making sure we get the right people and the right places to build all the right building blocks.
“I think we are at the tipping point where people are starting to believe that Hastings can be a vibrant place to work and live and be in, and that is really exciting to be honest.”
He said he was in full support of inner-city housing, which he believes will help add to the city’s vibrancy.
“A city is not a city unless it operates 24 hours a day and the only way it operates 24 hours a day is you have to have inner-city living.”
A Hastings District Council spokesperson said they will continue their programme of street upgrades and enhancements.
The old Post Office building, the old Public Trust and the old Herald Tribune building have been refurbished under a facade enhancement scheme for heritage buildings.
“There is a council fund that building owners can apply for if they wish to enhance their buildings,” the spokesperson said.
A number of private businesses were taking the opportunity to create developments in the city centre.
“Examples are the Tribune Building, the new Quest Hotel being built behind Opera Kitchen cafe´ and the Municipal Building, and most recently a new laneway has been created on Heretaunga St East.”
Hastings City Business Association general manager Lucinda Perry said more than 15 new businesses had opened in the past six months in Hastings city centre.