“Next, please”

Press, 21 October 1983, Page 10

“Next, please”

The Chancery Tavern is only the first step in a development plan that should make Chancery Lane the centre of the city’s social life, according to the tavern owner, Mr lan McKenzie.

With the tavern premises already taking up the entire first-floor level of the rebuilt side of the lane, Mr McKenzie’s next move will be to commission a night club and cabaret on the opposite side. Plans for the renewal of the eastern side of Chancery Lane are well advanced and Mr McKenzie envisages linking the corresponding

first-floor area with the tavern by means of a glassed-in catwalk.

“It’s time there was topclass entertainment available in the city at night,” Mr McKenzie says.

His ideas for the new development are as lavish as those he has just seen reach fruition. In spite of this, and the now-familiar raising of eyebrows in the business community, Mr McKenzie predicts that the cabaret will be open in little more than a year. “I never like to stand still,” he says. “Now I’ve finished the tavern I’m keen to get on with another pro-

ject, and this is definitely the way to go.” Having been involved in several other businesses in Christchurch and Auckland and with a good deal of experience in the hospitality industry, Mr McKenzie is well-prepared for the venture.

He is a man who thinks in larger-than-life terms, revels in a challenge, and has no space in his vocabulary for negatives. “I acquired a taste for service overseas,” he says, “I know how people should be treated and they have a right to that kind of service, even in New Zealand.”