24 FEATURE
In with the
Old:
STORY BY KAT DUGGAN
SARAH HODGETT
5 Tapped Bar Strikes Balance Between Old and New.
Tucked away amid three of the Blenheim’s most central streets is it’s
best hidden bar.
For many it’s ‘the old Tux factory’, for other’s it’s home to Creatures of
Habit, Blenheim’s newest barbershop, and while some know it for what
it is, 5 Tapped Bar, others are yet to discover the hidden gem.
Co-owner Haydn Mearns says it’s not uncommon to have a visitor who
has just discovered their existence, despite having been open for a year
this month.
Prior to that, Haydn and his wife, co-owner Nikky Mearns spent another
year turning the former factory into an eclecti c and cosy space, kitt ed
out with an array of vintage pieces from furniture, painti ngs and displays
through to instruments, old bikes and old cars.
Walls in the women’s bathroom are donned with vintage mirrors and
hairbrushes, a vanity has been put together using old weatherboards
and cabinet draws collected out of a rubbish bin, while the foot pedals
of two drum kits are used to operate its taps.
“The bathroom is all new but it’s been designed to look old,” Haydn
says.