Welcome to city’s West End Precinct

New Plymouth’s art and culture quarter has been launched.

A group of the city’s businesses have rebranded as the West End Precinct, with the Len Lye Centre and refurbished White Hart Hotel at its core.

With the now internationallyrenowned gallery as the backdrop, around 100 people gathered in the Strategy Collective offices on Saturday to christen the space.

New Plymouth mayor Neil Holdom said it was a pleasure to be able to celebrate the success of the district’s entrepreneurs who were helping to put New Plymouth on the map.

‘‘This is the people of New Plymouth having confidence in ourselves,’’ he said.

‘‘I believe branding is going to be a huge focus for our district. We’ve got so much to celebrate and so much to enjoy but outside of the district aren’t really aware of it.’’

New Plymouth’s Jim Hickey, former weatherman and co-owner of the airport cafe chain Airspresso, applauded the developers for keeping ‘the hart’ at the heart of the city.

‘‘So much of the heritage of this city has been destroyed over the years by developers,’’ he said.

Hickey said the architectural history of the building was an important cornerstone of the development and said it proved there was a way to have positive relationship between the old and the new in a growing city.

The precinct had built itself up with ‘‘like-minded achievers’’ and it would draw people in from all over New Zealand and beyond, he said.

‘‘Just remember the West End Precinct begins at the eastern gateway.’’

Taranaki Chamber of Commerce chief executive Richard Williams said the precinct was the exact type of initiative New Plymouth needed to draw people back into the central city.

‘‘It’s bringing to life that end of town and it’s going to be known now as the arts and culture precinct.

‘‘When visitors arrive they will start being drawn to that end of town,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s going to give New Plymouth a bit of an edge.’’

He said hopefully this would encourage other businesses to look at collaborating in other areas of the CBD, and with the council rolling out its ‘‘Shaping Our City’’ initiatives like lighting up the lanes and adding more street art to the area, the only way the city centre was heading was up.

Et Vous’ Kate Macfarlane said it hadn’t been an easy process with businesses like Snug Lounge and Plantation having to bear the brunt of years of construction.

‘‘We’ve always kept the bigger picture in mind and now we have it and we’re really, really proud with what we’ve got.’’

Largely the businesses worked to complement one another, but they had plans for events and collaborations to best utilise the space on offer including the gallery, Macfarlane said.