New life for Sign of the Takahe

The historic Sign of the Takahe building in Cashmere has been turned into a cafe. Photo: Geoff Sloan
The historic Sign of the Takahe building in Cashmere has been turned into a cafe. Photo: Geoff Sloan
The Sign of the Takahe has reopened.

An official opening event was held at the historic venue on Hackthorne Rd. About 400 hundred people turned up on the day to celebrate.

The venue has been closed since the 2011 earthquake.

It was leased off the city council by Andrew Male and his wife Kay at the start of the year.

They have installed a new cafe and bar upstairs and revamped the interior of the building.

Mr Male said reopening the sign of the Takahe was a great feeling given the months of work that had gone into getting it ready since leasing it.

"My wife and I have been talking about and passionate about it for the last six months but you know, sometimes you look back and think I couldn't have done it without my team.

He said visitors were excited about having the iconic building back up and running.

"It's finally seeing the building back open again that has a lot of history, people have got history with it."