Very slowly, central Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland is coming back to life after years of construction and Covid-related disruption. One new spot to emerge is No. 7, a small café and wine bar on Pitt St, which, in a year or so, will be on the doorstep of the new Karanga a Hape train station. “At the moment the construction is our biggest challenge,” says owner Jack Young, who worked with friend Toby Mannis on No. 7’s design. “But once the station is open, the area will be buzzing, and we can be involved in an exciting part of the city.” 

Tell us a bit about No. 7.

No. 7 is a coffee shop during the week and a small bar during the weekends. We have a simple offering, as we have such a small space and wanted to keep the vibe relaxed and easy. 

What was here before and how much did you have to do?

There was an old coffee shop called Baretta here before. We pretty much had to do everything – from demolishing the old bar, to installing the new one. Designer Toby Mannis and I were able to do quite a bit of work on the space ourselves, with the help of some friends, of course. 

It’s an all-day café that transitions to an early bar. How did that influence the design? 

This was a major consideration. In a practical sense, we had to make sure the bar space was suitable for two different purposes, so we had to make sure everything fit together nicely and didn’t get in the way when it wasn’t being used. Design-wise we had to try and make the space feel nice in the evening as well as during the day, which was actually kind of challenging with lighting and seating arrangements.

How did you want it to feel?

We wanted to make the space feel fresh and new, as the old bar was super dated and was really a relic of 90s and early 2000s café culture. We also tried to make the space feel voluminous. The ceiling is really high, while the space itself is quite small. We added a small partition, shelving and the big paper shades to try and achieve this feel.

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No. 7

7/59 Pitt St, Newton, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland‍