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“We just thought, there’s no bagels in Palmy, let’s do bagels,” says Hannah Doughty, right, of Freddie Clere on Church St, bringing a new business with a different vibe to the city.
Hannah Doughty couldn’t find a job she wanted or a bagel in Palmerston North, so she and her husband have toasted up a solution for both.
Freddie Clere, a takeaway coffee and bagel bar, has opened in the old Baptist Church near The Plaza, most commonly recognised as the former home of Abbey Musical Theatre.
Busy prepping bagels beneath the ornate stained windows, in what she understood had been the theatre’s cloakroom or tearoom, Doughty said the venture was born from the opportunity to lease such a curious nook.
“It’s a cute little hole-in-the-wall, and the building has lots of character.”
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Doughty, centre, aided behind the counter by husband Scott Francis, who is in the army. A transfer four years ago brought the family from Auckland to Palmerston North.
She and her family moved to the city from Auckland four years ago when husband and soldier Scott Francis received a transfer to Linton Military Camp.
With the youngest of their three children now 2, Doughty, 36, said it was time for her to return to work but she struggled to find anything she wanted to pursue.
“So this opportunity came up, and we just thought, why not? Let’s give it a whirl. It was something that sparked my interest. I love coffee.”
Freddie Clere was now in its third week and already enjoying a number of regular customers, courtesy of the police station and Farmers across the road.
“It’s been so great. We were real confident, then the week before we opened we were s….ing ourselves. But the support has been so good. It’s like Palmy has really come out to support us.”
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Hannah Doughty inside her “cute little hole-in-the-wall”.
The idea to champion fresh bagels simply came from noticing no-one else in the city was offering them, and they were “all over the show” in Auckland.
“So we’re going for a vibe in here that’s more like a little Wellington or Ponsonby Rd vibe. We’re trying to bring something a bit different.”
The bagels are supplied by neighbouring business Automatic Bakery, while the coffee beans are sourced from local roastery Arosta.
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The name, Freddie Clere, is a nod to the building’s architect, Frederick de Jersey Clere, who designed a number of churches in the lower North Island as diocesan architect of the Anglican Church.
Palmerston North has had a patchy relationship with bagels, with franchises for Wellington enterprise Wholly Bagels twice struggling to establish a foothold on The Square, one opening in 2007 and closing two years later, and another opening in 2014, albeit briefly.
“I heard about the bagel shop that was there and that it didn’t last very long,” said Doughty, “and I’m like, people stop telling me that, I’m already committed!”
She was confident their menu, featuring four bagel sandwiches and a range of spreads, would keep taste buds satisfied.
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The healthiest bagel on the menu, ‘My Body Is A Temple’, is proving surprisingly popular, says Doughty.
“The Whole Hog”, a breakfast bagel packed with bacon, friend egg, hashbrown, cheese and barbecue sauce, was the clear top seller, but they had been surprised the avocado, pea and feta smash with pink pickle creation, “My Body is a Temple”, was coming in strong at second.
“I wasn’t sure if Palmy would be ready for peas in a bagel.”
Doughty wanted to introduce a special “bagel of the month” from October: “It’s going to be a mac’n’ cheese, hot honey, deep-fried, horrendous thing, but delicious.”
Freddie Clere is open Monday to Saturday, 6am to 2pm.
The former Baptist Church was built in 1928, replacing an earlier church on the same site. In 1982 the building was considered too small and was sold to the local operatic society and became Abbey Theatre, who operated from the venue until 2016.
