25 January 2006

Central City Library gets real

Auckland City has announced that Tina and Chris Barlow of Real Works Ltd. have been chosen to operate a new café at Central City Library. The new café is called real.

real focuses on delivering fresh, natural, nutritious and high quality food. Currently real operates at two outlets, a standalone café in central Takapuna and an in-house café in the Les Mills World of Fitness in Auckland's CBD. real has won honours in its industry including the NZ Herald 'Viva' Award for Best Healthy Takeouts in Auckland and the prestigious New Zealand Retailer's Association 'Top Shop' award for Best New Start-up Business 2003.

"We're delighted to be involved in such an exciting new development," comments real director Chris Barlow. "Incorporating a quality café into the Central City Library is a wonderfully innovative move which we're sure will appeal to both regular library goers and city workers alike."

Group manager of Auckland City Libraries, Allison Dobbie, says: "We are very pleased to welcome real to the Central City Library.

"We are looking forward to introducing our regulars and welcoming new customers to this exciting café. real met all the criteria we were looking for. They are experienced café operators who were looking to work in partnership with the library. They have a strong customer base, a focus on quality and a fresh approach. They emphasise real food, which is different and delicious.

"The café will cater from weekday breakfasts through to pre-theatre customers and will also be licensed."

The café site is currently in the construction phase, which is being undertaken by Fletcher Construction (Interiors). This redevelopment will include not only a new library café but also improved layout of collections, a news media zone and a new entrance.

The library café construction is part of a $2 million redevelopment project by Auckland City that intends to transform the library into an Auckland CBD focal point aiming to attract more than one million visitors to the library each year. The Auckland City Libraries' collections have also been refreshed this year with an additional NZD$100,000 investment in new items.

The lantern structure and café design has been a joint venture between GHD's architectural division (formerly council's City Design group) and Athfield Architects Ltd.

real will open in April 2006 on the corner of Wellesley and Lorne streets.

ENDS

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