There are some establishments that, for whatever reason, find a place in the hearts of their locals.
Black Barn Bistro, which opened 20 years ago on the outskirts of Havelock North, is one of them.
Hawke’s Bay is a region that could use some good news right now, and the imminent reopening of this bistro certainly fits that bill.
It wasn’t the flood that destroyed the bistro; it was fire. A big fire. A fire which spewed flames and ash into the air and, when extinguished, left behind a soggy, sad, smoke-filled remnant of a building.
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The fire, which started in a clothes dryer, started on the evening of February 8 last year.
John Cowpland/Stuff
Kim Thorp, co-owner of Black Barn Vineyard, is looking forward to the bistro reopening on April 14.
It’s not a night co-owner Kim Thorp will ever forget. He was at home, behind the vineyard, when he made his nightly sweep of the landscape around 9:30 p.m.
“I honestly couldn’t believe what I was looking at. There were fire trucks and flashing lights everywhere and the whole place looked like it was engulfed in flames,” he said.
“It was a great night, I must say”.
Henry Waap/Delivered
The bistro is ablaze on the night of February 8, 2022. (File photo)
“Coming down the next morning was incredibly sobering. The firefighters had done a great job keeping the bones of the building intact, apart from one wing where the fire started,” he said.
The smoke and water damage was significant. The place, Thorp said, looked “completely grim.”
The idea of giving up the bistro never occurred to Thorp and his business partner Andy Coltart, but “we certainly wondered how we were going to turn things around and how long it would take”.
John Cowpland/Stuff
Black Barn chef Regnar Christiansen, bistro front-of-house manager Santiago Burgos and co-owner Kim Thorp are putting the finishing touches on the bistro before it reopens.
Anyone who has any doubts about how dearly the place was held by the locals need only read the many, many social media comments made on the night of the fire and in the days after to clear that doubt .
The feelings did not go unheard.
When rebuilding began, with almost the entire building still a wreck, Thorp and staff put up a wall and covered it with quotes from the messages they had received.
John Cowpland/Stuff
Customers returning to the bistro will notice several new touches.
“We called it the ‘wish wall’. It was just great. It was incredible, the response we got,” said Thorp. “I think we’ve always had brilliant support from the local community. Of course we depend on visitors and so on, but that local core is really important to us.”
Many in the region are suffering from Cyclone Gabrielle, and Thorp hopes the reopening can, in some small way, bring a spark of cheer.
John Cowpland/Stuff
The fire led to a complete rebuild of the bistro’s kitchen, which now, somewhat ironically, includes a wood-burning grill.
“Personally, I think Hawke’s Bay was more traumatized by the cyclone than by Covid. Even if you weren’t personally affected, you would definitely know people who were not only affected, but devastated. Four of our employees have become homeless,” he said.
“This is something that we as a region have to deal with very carefully. But yes, we have to live and breathe again,” Thorp said.
The bistro reopens on Friday 14 April and is now taking bookings.