INVERCARGILL LIDO, CIAO

In Wellington, where drinking coffee is as iconic a cultural activity as hailing taxis is for New Yorkers, those who meet to talk shop or gossip at their local café owe the privilege to many people: horticulturalists in Brazil, Vietnam and Ethiopia; discerning bean roasters; and, of course, dextrous baristas. They are also indebted to a handful of 1990s entrepreneurs — the people who started Red’s Café, Masi, Midnight Espresso, Astoria, Matterhorn, City Limits, L’affare, Fidel’s and Deluxe.

This Christmas Eve, the Lido will permanently close its disagreeable sliding door. The closure will mark the near total loss of a generation of institutions.

It started in 1990 when a certain David George bought what was then a hobby shop that specialised in balsa wood airplane models. The original Lido, with its total lack of competition, never struggled to attract