The former Chief Post Office in Cathedral Square has a 140-year history, and it’s about to be thrust into the 2020s in style. It’s going to be a 24-hour hub of food, drink, entertainment and commerce, right smack in the centre of the city.

The Grand, as the restored brick heritage building will now be known, is one of the most ambitious private developments inside the four avenues since Riverside Market opened in 2019.

The cornerstone will be 1879 Restaurant and Bar, giving Cathedral Square a new eating and drinking venue. But perhaps the most interesting aspect is the 24-hour deli, something sorely missing from central Christchurch’s scene. The Grand chief executive Darin Rainbird says it will be a hybrid of a New York Deli, a made-to order sandwich shop, and a smoothie bar, with coffee and food available at all hours for night-owls and weary travellers venturing out from the neighbouring hotels and Te Pae Convention Centre.

The Grand will also host an i-SITE, complete with big, movable screens outside in the square, displaying an audiovisual experience of the best that Canterbury and the South Island have to offer. At the other end of the deceptively large building there will be an ice creamery, florist, and artisan bakery.

Everything except the bakery should be up and running by September, Darin says. The Grand is running a crowdfunding campaign to accelerate the bakery, which will be the development’s ‘stage two’.

Stage three is a whole upstairs fitout. This space will be shared between permanent offices, co-working space, two kitchens, intimate dining booths, and a larger bar and entertainment area.

“We’ll have a stage over there,” Darin says. “We’ll run anything from comedy, album release, one-man shows, maybe even the whole restaurant running a murder mystery type thing. Rather than just coming out for a meal, you’re coming out to get entertained.”

The upstairs production kitchen will supply food to the restaurant and deli, and retail items like jams for the bakery. Once this and the pastry kitchen are up and running, just about everything consumed at The Grand will be made on site, and with local ingredients.

Darin also wants the kitchen to produce wholesale products and a hyper-local food bag to keep the business viable should there be another lockdown.

“But outside is what I’m really excited about,” he says, “bringing a bit of life into the square.”

The Grand will open up onto Cathedral Square, with another entrance from underneath the Ibis Christchurch hotel in Hereford Street giving new access to the square.

Together with the newly opened Te Pae, existing hospitality like OGB, and surrounding attractions like the Tūranga central library and Spark Square, The Grand will be an important piece of the new and improved Cathedral Square.

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