What would it take for West Coasters to boycott their beloved beer? Greymouth hotel-keepers found out in 1947, when an organised attempt to raise the price of beer sparked one of the most effective consumer boycotts ever seen in New Zealand.
Café culture has become integral to Wellington's identity. This culture began in the 1930s with the emergence of the milk bar, followed by coffee houses in the 1950s. After a period of decline in the 1960s and 70s, the city's café
scene has grown in spectacular fashion over the last 20 years.
The pavlova - that frothy, baked confection of egg whites and sugar - has long been seen as an icon of New Zealand cuisine; its place of origin has been debated with Australians for just as long in one of the many instances of trans-Tasman rivalry.
Wellington city centre is renowned for its flourishing café scene and the culture it inhabits. But it was nearly 1950 before there was much sign of the sparkling capital that exists today.
The rise of coffee houses in the 1940s, 50s and 60s was not a phenomenon confined to Wellington, or indeed to New Zealand. The connection between the history of cafe culture and immigration is significant.
New construction materials and equipment fashioned the cafe culture rising in the 1950s. Wellingtonians were introduced to the espresso machines as European styled cafes emerged.
In mid 1947
there were rumours that the price of beer was about to rise. It was a decision
that no publican wanted to take alone because customers might move to another
hotel where prices were lower.
After the
first week of the Greymouth beer boycott it became clear that the Licensed
Victuallers' Association (LVA), supported by the breweries, was not going to
yield.
To obtain physical fitness, it is of vital importance that the right mental attitude should accompany the food diet to enable the emotions, nerves and glands to co-operate with the healing processes of the body.
New Zealand in the 1940s and 1950s has been described as a drab and uniform place. From the late 1950s, however, a café culture was established throughout the country.
Colour, beauty, exquisite artistry find joyous expression in the Art of Salad Making. The homemaker who serves salads so deliciously and artistically tempting that the family cannot resist is thereby blessing all with the glorious gift of health.
A number of Working Men's Clubs (WMCs) had been
established in major urban areas since the late 19th century, but there were
none on the West Coast. The beer boycott provided a catalyst for new debate.
For many years the scramble for refreshments at railway stations was one of the central rituals of New Zealand life. In 1946 the Refreshment Branch served more than nine million travellers.
An American soldier enjoys a milkshake with a New Zealand woman in Auckland's New Ritz Bar. The official caption reads 'Milk bars have sprung up all over the city to cater to American tastes.
