Kiwi Milk Bar heads back to the glory days

When Debbie Pollock was a young girl growing up in Alexandra, the Kiwi Milk Bar was an iconic part of the town’s social life.
    The youngest of seven children, Miss Pollock only remembers the Tarbert St diner vaguely, but she grew up with her elder siblings’ memories of the popular eatery.
    Miss Pollock, who has bought the business and plans to reopen the doors on Monday, wants to bring back those days when the milk bar was not only somewhere to eat and drink, but a social hub where everyone felt welcome.
    She said her entire life had revolved around food, and she was excited to be opening her own business.
    “When this opportunity came up, ‘I thought, If I don’t give it a go, I’ll regret it’.”
    She had installed booth seating, brought back the heating cabinet and planned to offer a hot meal special every day.
    The special each Tuesday would be a roast and dessert, offering a weekly roast for those who lived alone or did not have the time or inclination to cook one themselves.
    In addition to the booths, she had an old retro lounge suite she planned to put by the window as a “wee nook” and had been told by locals that the original milk bar had a jukebox, so that might be a future addition.
    One of her former roles in the food industry was working for Humble Pie, another eatery in Alexandra’s main street, but she said the town was big enough for another food option and the Humble Pie owners encouraged her to open her own business.
    She also had a small hobby business making cake decorations and hoped to introduce that to the milk bar also.