Pubs almost run dry

Consumers on the Coast have been warned that luxury items could become an increasingly rare sight on supermarket shelves as the fall-out from the devastating Christchurch earthquake continues to cause problems.
Although beer deliveries to the West Coast began again yesterday, bottled water supplies are now under threat as Canterbury residents stock up on supplies to get through continued power cuts and aftershocks.
Foodstuffs South Island Ltd chief executive Steve Anderson said the company could only utilise two of its three distribution warehouses in Christchurch and continued aftershocks meant staff were “still struggling”.
He was unable to give a timeframe for the resumption of normal operations, and said supply would remain at a “limited capacity” for an unspecified amount of time.
“It is not just Hokitika, it is everyone; supplies of water, candles and batteries are suffering. All focus will be on commodity items.
“Staff here are still struggling with continued aftershocks and are still skittish.”
Mr Anderson said luxury items would be increasingly hard to get hold of as most distribution efforts were now concentrating on everyday necessities.
New World Hokitika owner Robyn Lee said food was still coming through and overall stock levels were “still fine”.
“There are plenty of products available. Things are just a bit slow, we need to be patient but there is still plenty of stock coming in every day.”
Bottled water, pasta, rice and gravies were hardest hit, Ms Lee said.
“We have not been as badly effected as other places. And we have also offered to send a support team to help New World businesses in Christchurch. A lot of staff have indicated they wanted to go to do their bit to help.”
Pioneer Hotel owner John Englefield said the deliveries of beer had resumed yesterday at just the right time and revealed that Hokitika was possibly as close as just one day away from ‘running dry’.
“I probably had enough kegs to get through one more night.”
Lion-Nathan Christchurch corporate affairs director Neil Hinton said trucks were dispatched yesterday to the West Coast, although beer deliveries would be on a limited supply basis for the next couple of weeks.
“We might not have every brand available but there will certainly be beer available.
“The distribution centre got hit, which badly effected our storage capacity. The brewery itself is intact, which we are thrilled about, and will resume full operation as soon as the council lets us.”
Railway Hotel owner Lance Winterburn said that although he had initially been told that there would not be any beer delivered this week, things got back on track faster than expected.
“We had a representative call in yesterday and we have been assured that everything will now be back to normal.
“We may have been on tenterhooks there for a while, but I had sourced supplies from another warehouse so we did have a back up system in place.
“We really appreciate the work Lion Breweries have done, they have been through a rough patch. The brewery in Christchurch suffered some damage so we really appreciate them getting things back on track.”