The new cafe opening soon in one of Raglan’s oldest commercial buildings will be called The Shack. Land agent Sydney Dando built the building at 19 Bow Street on the corner of Wainui Rd and Bow St in 1902. This predates the present Harbourview Hotel which was built in 1905. 19 Bow street has a B heritage rating in the Waikato District Plan for its general form, materials of street facades, its hipped gabled roof, false parapet and return verandah.
After being used as a land agency for many years, 19 Bow Street later became Langley’s Auction Mart & Bookstore. For the last few years it was the Tongue & Groove café.
Early surfers made it a crash pad at night and it seems it was known at that time as the shack and this is the story behind the new name.
