One for the road

 

April will see a changing of the guard at Mangawhai Tavern as Gillian Houser, owner-operator since August 2008, moves on to greener pastures.

Coming to Mangawhai was quite a sideways move for Gillian whose former life had included high power, high pressure positions in the world of corporates, entertainment and tourism promotion.

As director of the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington she was responsible for three major venues dealing with MPs, socialites and conferences on a daily basis, often attending overseas functions to vie for special events and at the same time promote Wellington and New Zealand as both a tourist and tour destination.

Following this came 11 years at the helm of the Bruce Mason Centre which opened on Auckland’s North Shore in 1996 and which Gillian drove to take a leading role in arts and entertainment in Auckland. The auditorium seated 1200 patrons for events ranging from comedy to classical ballet, and the multi-purpose venue was also home for a number of corporate events from conferences to cocktail evenings.

The decision to move to Mangawhai was to be an easing of the hectic pace of corporate life to undertake a family business.

“It was a radical change from the constant people interaction in the City to small town business so I had to adjust to being hands-on as opposed to managing a large staff contingent,” Gillian says “but we made a lot of changes both structural and what we offered patrons in terms of food and entertainment which included free Sunday music afternoons for families.”

The move of family members to Tauranga in 2011 left Gillian running the Tavern single-handed which is no mean task and so the decision was later made to put the business on the market and move to be nearer and more involved with family again.

While the fiscal downturn took a toll on all business in Mangawhai, Gillian promoted the Tavern to be the local music venue over the summer period staging top local, national and often International bands and performers.

Music apart, the Tavern featured wood-chopping events and outdoor music in the remodelled courtyard, hot-rod and motorbike displays and the big screen installed in the lounge bar brought similarly big crowds to international sporting events such as soccer and Rugby World Cup events and the current World Cup cricket.

“My swansong is going to be an evening here with locals and friends Saturday March 21 and an auction of some special pieces, sports mementos and historical pieces so keep your eyes open for the list,” she says, adding “I’ll certainly have some lasting memories of Mangawhai to take with me.”