Simon Hendery

A brewpub where you’re spoilt for choice

Much has changed in the world of beer appreciation over the three decades Jeremy Bayliss has been running pubs in Hawke’s Bay. He recalls that in the early 1990s, when he was managing Napier’s Criterion Hotel, beer drinkers weren’t exactly spoilt for choice. So it was a big deal, for example, when Steinlager launched a second label and punters suddenly...

Worshipping craft beer at the Abbey

When you pitch up at Abbey Cellars, in the Bridge Pa Triangle wine district west of Hastings, the first difficult decision to make is whether you’re there for a beer or a wine. The Haworth family established the Abbey Cellars wine brand in 2002 and a decade later, son Dermot started getting serious about beer. He began selling small-batch brews...

High Demand for hi-tech talent

Hawke’s Bay’s technology sector is on a roll but are there enough skilled staff wanting to work here? Recruiting the skilled staff needed to grow a business has often been one of the top challenges for both start-ups and established technology companies in the Bay. But there are signs that’s beginning to change. The skyrocketing cost of living in centres...

Reinventing retail: The Cuba Street of Hastings

Take a walk along Heretaunga Street East’s ‘200 block’ and you’ll find the central Hastings precinct buzzing with retail excitement – except in one corner. The windows of the former long-time home of Denton Wyatt Books on the corner of Heretaunga and Warren Streets, which closed in late 2017, have been whited-out ahead of a major redevelopment. But elsewhere, along...

Local brewers get crafty

It took a while to take off, but the Hawke’s Bay craft brewing industry is now going from strength to strength as demand grows for fresh, local beers. There’s plenty of fizz in Hawke’s Bay’s growing craft beer scene at the moment – just ask Giant Brewing’s Chris Ormond (pictured above) and Matt Smith of Brave. Chris is shifting Giant’s...