“Mother Hucks” Conducted Widely-Known Restaurants

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28179, 18 January 1957, Page 13

“Mother Hucks” Conducted Widely-Known Restaurants

When Mrs Bucks’s Theatre Royal Restaurant in Gloucester street closes at the end ot January a name associated with Christchurch for 48 years will disappear. Mrs Isabella Hucks, better known as “Mother” Hucks to members of older generations, gave her name to a restaurant which has had three changes of address within 50 yards in Gloucester street.

“Mother” Hucks was a figure in Christchurch until her death in 1936. She was a good chef, and her grills made night life in Christchurch quite distinctive; all the young “blades” patronised her restaurant and she was affectionately known as “Mother” to them, and they as “the boys” to her. She was an able business woman, too. After establishing a chain of shops in Sydney, a German, Mrs Schneider, dhme to Christchurch with her husband and opened a small teashop in Victoria Square. Mrs Hucks was an occasional visitor and one day Mrs Schneider said to her: “If I open a cafe, will you come and be my chef?” Mrs Hucks protested that she had never cooked a meal away frpm her own home; but Mrs Schneider, herself an excel-' lent cook and a judge of character and ability, persuaded Mrs Hucks to join her. The cafe was soon booming. It was in the premises of the Theatre Royal now occupied by a tobacconist’s shop and hairdressing saloon. Mrs Hucks soon bought the rapidly expanding business from Mrs Schnieder. Meanwhile, a Mrs Dobson had opened a cafe across the road in the old King’s Theatre building (now the rotary press room of

“The Press”). Mrs Hucks bought her out and ran the two businesses until the branch was closed before the outbreak pf the First World War. A Family Concern Mr Hucks assisted his wife in the business, and their four daughters were on the staff. They were Lavinia (the late Mrs R. Donovan), Ellen (Mrs A. Frame, of Christchurch), Olive (Mrs R. H. Davison, of Bower avenue, North New Brighton) and Isabella (Mrs L. Vining, of Wellington.) Their son, Mr R. H. Hucks, was the only member of the family not to work in the cafe. He joined the New Zealand Navy and is still at sea, working out from Sydney. “Mother” Hucks’s cafe was more than an eating house to the young men about town it was their meeting place. Her interest in them was much in the nature of the personal interest of a mother. Her generosity was a by-word and she was one of the first to come to the assistance of any man who happened to be “down on his luck.” She was a big-hearted woman; she also had to be tolerant, because the high-spirited “boys,” in rival groups, often bombarded each other with pats of butter, projected from the ends of table knives. Famous Patron

On the counter of the original cafe was a glass show-case which had a habit of suddenly giving way when a patron leaned over to talk to Mrs Schneider of her experiences when running a cafe in Cairo. One who paid 7s 6d for damaging the case was E. R. G. R. Evans, then in command of the Scott Relief Expedition and to become famous as “Evans of the Broke” and Lord Mountevans. After the show-case had cracked on another occasion, Mrs Hucks remarked to Mrs Schneider: “If that case were mine, I would cover it with plate glass and then it would be quite safe.” “Ah, yes,” replied Mrs Schneider, “but you wouldn’t make any extra money, just because it wouldn’t crack.” The business expanded and the cafe was transferred to the premises now occupied by Duncan and Cook, women’s hairdressers, in Hall’s Bellvue Hotel, which was also conducted by Mrs Hucks as a private hotel. It continued to grow and nearly 35 years ago it was transferred next door to the larger corner shop of Times Chambers.

With the old sign of ‘‘Mrs Hucks’s Theatre Royal Restaurant,” the eating-house has been open continuously, except for brief spells for remodelling. For six months after Mrs Hucks died in 1936, her daughters carried on the business and then sold out. The cafe has had several changes of owners in the last 20 years. It is still called “Mother” Hucks’s” by. many of the old patrons. North Beach Enthusiast

A great believer in the future of North Beach, Mrs Hucks made an investment by building the Ozone Cafe there. It was finished in 1916 and she offered it to the Government for use as a convalescent home for wounded returned men. It was the first invalid soldiers’ home in New Zealand, hundreds staying in it. Mrs Hucks was generous; she herself paid the wages of the caretaker and his wife to look after “the boys.” A new storey was added to the Ozone Cafe and it was refurnished in the best style. Mrs Hucks had just returned from a holiday in Sydney when the cafe was destroyed by fire. The fire began in the adjoining bathing sheds and sparks set the malthoid roof of the cafe alight. It was a disastrous fire for the owner. Mrs Hucks lost £4OOO from it. Undeterred, she rebuilt and the building operates to day as the Ozone Private Hotel.