Bid to resurrect Dux at Arts Centre ‘finished’
Dreams of resurrecting the much-loved Dux de Lux at Christchurch’s Arts Centre are “finished”, according to centre boss Philip Aldridge.
The news has devastated Dux founder Richard Sinke, who had launched a bid to restore the earthquake-damaged building with the help of a developer, a property investor and a fundraising expert.
However, Aldridge, the Arts Centre director, said yesterday that “any conversations with them are finished”.
“That is all over and done with. We’ve got a much better scheme on the table. It’ll be much more beneficial for the Arts Centre,” Aldridge said. He would not say what that scheme was, but did say it would be a restaurant/bar/brewery-type operation.
Sinke, who opened the Dux in the Arts Centre-owned building in 1978, said he was “hugely disappointed” and was “astounded” that the centre was going to put another business in the building.
“I find it incredulous.”
The Dux de Lux, on the corner of Montreal and Hereford streets, was much loved for its sunny, sheltered courtyard, microbrewery, live music and food.
“The Dux is synonymous with the Arts Centre and that building. You ask anybody in Christchurch and they would want to see the Dux back there,” Sinke said.
James Stewart, who was part of the bid to resurrect the Dux, said he was asked every week when it would return. “They do not want some generic brewpub.”
It also contributed to the arts by hosting hundreds of bands each year.
While the bid was in limbo, Stewart and Sinke believed the door had never been firmly closed, and they still held out hope that the Dux would return.
Aldridge’s comments yesterday came as a surprise to them both. They had hoped Mayor Phil Mauger would come through with an election promise to get the building restored and bring the Dux back.
Mauger said last year that council funding to help restore the Dux could be considered as part of the 10-year budget, the long-term plan. However, there is no money for the Dux in the draft document, which was released for public consultation this week. In fact, there is no money for the entire Arts Centre in the draft plan.
In a written statement this week, Mauger said he was still “absolutely committed” to finding a solution to getting the
Dux de Lux building restored.
“But there are still options for the Arts Centre to work with a private partnership directly to restore the Dux de Lux building.”
However, Aldridge said the scheme was simply not feasible, and there was nothing in it for the Arts Centre. It is a view that Stewart and Sinke disagree with.
Aldridge said the good news was that there was a new plan, but he refused to talk about it, and instead wanted to focus on saving the Arts Centre. He would not say whom he was talking to or when a new operation would open in the Dux building.
“We can’t do anything unless we save the Arts Centre.”
The centre launched a public campaign earlier this week to encourage people to put pressure on the Christchurch City Council to keep funding it.
The council did not include any funding for the Arts Centre in its draft 10-year budget released last week, after giving it $1.83 million annually for the past three years.
Aldridge warned that the trust would fold without council funding. He said the centre had received a lot of support since news of the lack of council funding.
However, people have also been critical of how the centre has been run. Letters to the editor of The Press have criticised the number of staff, and salaries, and have called for the Dux to be reinstated along with the popular Saturday market.
Aldridge said people were “ill informed and just trying to stir”.
He said a new Saturday market would launch from early May, and he hoped it would be reminiscent of the popular markets held pre-quake. He said the Arts Centre was run “extremely leanly”.