Historic pub focuses on food

Restaurant entrepreneur Mark Keddell and celebrated executive chef Sean Marshall recently remodelled one of Auckland’s oldest pubs into an exciting eatery and bar for discerning Aucklanders. 

The White Rabbit, formerly The Crown, the 1864 establishment on the corner of Customs Street East and Gore Street, is now a modern daytime destination downstairs, an evening restaurant upstairs, and has a "snug back bar set to unveil its secrets after dark".

The White Rabbit injects some real competition into the flourishing hospitality precinct of Britomart, say its creators, turning an old drinking institution into a food destination. 

“Downstairs was a real old pub for years and years. However we’ve worked hard to completely transform this quite large space to make it a lot brighter and breezier. I suppose it’s now a fresh take on a 1950s farmhouse kitchen with a clean urban finish. Melbourne chic you might say,” says Keddell. 

Black has now been replaced with white. A large retro Smeg fridge sits behind the bar, with designer tea pots on display along with big jars of preserves. Tins of tea sit where bottles of spirits used to with giant fruit bowls of citrus on the bar. 

“We’ve kept the big white-tiled bar, but got rid of all the clutter apart from a few nice bottles of wine. It has to be a versatile all day space and so you don’t walk in instantly thinking it’s either a café, bar, or a restaurant. The impression now is probably more so of a modern-day café brasserie.” 

The breakfast and lunch menus place much emphasis on fresh New Zealand produce, with Keddell’s own lifestyle block on Blackbridge Road in Dairy Flat supplying the likes of honey and eggs. 

Up the dark wooden stairwell, patrons now follow a long light-box affixed to the wall right into the new 50-seater restaurant. Overlooking Britomart with a peek of the Waitemata Harbour, the refurbished upstairs corner room also features the building’s many beautiful Victorian sash-windows and an intricate pressed ceiling, albeit this one is still black.

Keddell hopes people will appreciate the improvements made to the much loved 150-year old Auckland heritage building and hospitality business. 

Outside the iconic building now boasts a top hat on its signage with of course The Mad Hatter Tea Party and White Rabbit both connected to Alice Of Wonderland. However, Keddell says Lewis Carroll’s writings are not necessarily the inspiration. He points out that White Rabbit was also the name of a famous World War Two spy, and of course it’s a lucky charm for the superstitious. One thing’s for sure, he and Marshall seemingly have the monopoly on that name in New Zealand hospitality.