Band rotunda to be restaurant?

Press, 3 September 1986, Page 1

Band rotunda to be restaurant?

Punting on the River Avon and lunch at the Edmonds band rotunda? It sounds very English and that is the image Tourplan Pacific wants to cultivate for its proposed restaurant in the Edmonds band rotunda in Cambridge Terrace. Christchurch city councillors yesterday added their support to the Christchurch Drainage Board for approval in principle of the punts and restaurant. Jr'. The tour operator wants to glass in and heat the rotunda. Sliding windows would allow “open air” dining. The restaurant would seat up to 60 people with an outside summer area catering for another 40. The lower level of the

rotunda would hold the kitchen and toilets. The upper level would be the dining room. An internal staircase would connect the floors. At present canoes are stored in the rotunda basement. Tourplan Pacific would help find alternative storage for these. The Poplar Crescent shelter would be used for live entertainment during summer week-ends. Band concerts could still be held in the rotunda if all the windows were opened. The restaurant would run from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. each day offering morning and afternoon teas, lunches, dinners, and snacks. The rotunda in a recreation 1 zone would need an application under the District Scheme for the proposed use. Tourplan Pacific also wants to run English-style hand-powered punts on the Avon. The punts would go upstream as far as the Montreal Street bridge, powered by “punters” in boaters, blazers and flannels. A commentary on buildings and monuments would be made. The company sees the punts and the restaurant as a joint venture. The proposal would use city assets at present neglected. The Drainage Board gave approval in principle to the punts in July on a 12-month trial. The City Solicitor has advised that permission

from the Minister of Lands might be needed to use the rotunda. That would first need the land around the rotunda to be classified as a recreation reserve under the Reserves Act At present it is a reserve “for the purposes of lawns, ornamental gardens and ornamental buildings.” That did not include a restaurant the solicitor opined.. : ? The City Council’s parks and recreation committee approved the proposal in principle. It will seek the opinion of the family of Mr T. J. Edmonds, of

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powder fame, who gave the rotunda to the city; local organisations; and the Commissioner of Crown Lands.

The proposed restaurant would “improve” the area surrounding the rotunda, said Tourplan’s project co-ordinator, Mrs Barbara Taylor. “The area is very neglected,” she said. “We want to recreate that feeling that something iS happening, because we think it is worthy of being a focal point for people.” Mr Geoff Ellis, the company’s managing director, said the restaurant would encourage both local people and overseas tourists to enjoy the area.

“Yet it does not detract from the traditional value and appearance of the location. In fact we believe it improves those attributes.”

Mrs Taylor said the rotunda was originally designed as a place to walk, sit, picnic and to

music, and as a landing point for boats on the river. “What we are trying to do is restore the former grandeur and dignity of the area by reintroducing the original intended uses,” she said. “By improving the existing public facilities the recreational use of the area will be greatly enhanced.”