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For the past 12 years, Leighton Carrad has been coming to have a cup of coffee and a scone at the Robert Harris cafe in the BNZ Tower on Auckland's Queen St.
Lately, he comes three days a week, after a morning swim, to enjoy the quiet atmosphere,
the fresh baking, and a quiet chat with a friend who works nearby and sneaks away for morning tea.
"It's a bit of a shame, really," Carrad says, looking around the warm red walls of the cafe on his last visit before it closed on Friday after more than 20 years' trading.
His friend is also going to miss the decidedly old-fashioned cafe, spread over three levels.
"It's a break away from the office, to come to a decent tearoom. You need that in the middle of the city, to get away from the monotony."
Plus, the food is great, the elderly pals agree. Indeed, filling the carefully-cleaned glass cabinets there is a mouth-watering array of food, including asparagus rolls in fresh white bread, ham, tomato and cheese club sandwiches, cream horns, butterfly cakes and melting moments.
This is one of the last places in the inner city where you can find these kinds of freshly made, old-fashioned treats. Staff say a tea house has been on the site since 1974.
But not anymore. Despite a 3 1/2-year legal battle, the cafe lease has not been renewed. Franchise owners Lance and Shirley Taylor are emotional on their final day.
"I'm a little bit churny," Shirley says after being hugged by two long-standing customers. "There is a real lack of old-type cafes in the city - now it's all plastic and stainless steel, and loud music," she explains.
An elderly man sitting in the corner is enjoying his last cup of tea after coming to this cafe since 1986. "It was very convenient, right here on Queen St, and the staff are always very pleasant. And they've always got your favourites," he says.
His favourite? The cream butterfly cakes. "Just like mum used to make."
People come back every day for the same thing, cook Lorraine Graham says. She has tears in her eyes as she talks about their regulars. "There have been some customers crying... They don't know where they will go now." One 80-something lady usually comes in every week, but Lorraine hasn't seen her this week. Graham is worried she might come along soon, only to find the doors closed.
Lance, who bought the cafe almost six years ago, says the cafe's clientele is just different.
One elderly woman came in every week but stopped after her husband died, so the staff phoned her to make sure she was okay. Another man stopped coming for a couple of weeks, only to return and tell the Taylors his wife had died.
"But he keeps coming back, he has people he always meets here."
The lunch rush is about to start, the morning tea dishes are cleared away, and the customers head off in search of a new cafe for their cuppa.
