Community and consistency – that’s the recipe for becoming New Zealand’s best bar.
That’s according to Aaron Hodson and Tim McLaren, co-founders of The Freeport with Cleaver & Co at Mount Maunganui’s Bayfair shopping centre.
The six-year-old gastropub won the best bar award at the 2025 Lion Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence.
“We’ve tried to build a community hub,” McLaren said. “I’ve always wanted to be called an institution – that’s my goal.”
They’ve come a long way since closing their doors during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the business partners were questioning how they would open again.
But support from locals enabled them to make significant structural changes and build a community one customer at a time.
They simplified what they were doing, and the local populace jumped on board.
While summer drives foot traffic towards Mount Maunganui, Bayfair’s dining precinct also enjoyed busy winters.
Hodson said they benefited from functions during November and December, but “winter’s a real engine”.
When the weather’s bad, people liked to go inside and eat hearty food, he said.
“We trade like the opposite of downtown,” McLaren said.
“I do a little rain dance every Friday night, hoping for a rainy Saturday.”
The pair have been working together since they were cable-tied together for a staff party at Lion Breweries.
Their corporate roles boosted their product knowledge and gave them a taste of macro trends in the beverage industry, as well as experience with a wide range of bars and restaurants.
As a family-friendly gastropub, The Freeport with Cleaver & Co prioritised great food, service and drinks.
Over time, they had figured out how to utilise their adjoining venues.
“There are all these different reasons people come down, and they can be bespoke or not,” Hodson said.
These ranged from baby showers to birthdays and engagement parties.
He praised their team’s handling of functions, ensuring they had the right amount of food, and setting everything up so guests could just roll in and have a good time.
“Every function is like an advertisement for new people that may not have been here before.”
Hodson and McLaren were considering redeveloping the Cleaver & Co side of the premises.
They had noticed an opening in the market but for what, they were not ready to reveal publicly yet.
“It’s semi under wraps.”
Customers they pitched the idea to had good feedback.
“It’s also showing people that we want to reinvest,” Hodson said.
McLaren said the best bar gong “blew us away”.
The men shared a few words when they accepted the award in Wellington, with McLaren saying they started The Freeport as colleagues and friends, but it felt a lot “thicker” than that now.
Hospitality connected them, and now, with people from different cultures working for The Freeport, they helped foster connections between others.
“We couldn’t do this if it weren’t for the likes of Jacquie, our general manager running this place, and the head chef, Lucas,” Hodson said.
“We’ve got 35 staff here and the leaders are making sure everyone’s doing what they’re doing but trying to have as much of a good time as you can while you’re at work.”
“Everyone that walks through that door, we’re just so grateful that they’ve chosen to come here,” McLaren said.
Bijou Johnson is an intern journalist with the Bay of Plenty Times.