11/05/2026
So. Good folk.
It's done.
Almost 26 years. Someone had to say it out loud eventually.
Le Café Picton has been sold!!!
After opening in October 2000 the re-birth of Le Café was fact with no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Turns out... quite a lot.
Doubled in size, grabbed that view, that view and never looked back. The w**e list grew, the ci**rs appeared, the menu grew. We sold anything that could be eaten, worn, carried, drunk. Still we NEVER did chips. Not once. Not sorry!
The Picton kids came. The students came. The professionals came. The ones who became professionals after being students here, came back too. The flat whites flowed. The dry jokes landed - mostly. The staff. The ones who stayed a season and somehow ended up staying three. The ones who never quite left. The ones who got married, had (Le Caf') kids, moved away, moved back. The ones whose children have now grown up hearing tales about this place from their parents who used to spill flat whites and charm tables for a living. You kept this thing breathing every single day. We watched you grow up in here, and we wouldn't have had it any other way. And yes.... there was the odd occasion mid-service when tools were downed, aprons dropped, and someone had to race home to check out the orcas in the bay. Staff included. Boss especially. No judgement. None whatsoever.
And the guests. You lot! The ones who made a habit of us. Who came in rough and left slightly less so. Who knew the menu better than some of the people serving it. Who brought your kids, then came back without them, then brought the kids' kids. We never took that lightly. Not once.
The music. Buskers off the street, local bands, big names, small names, the Open Ear Jazz Festival — this place has had some noise in it over the years. The best kind.
To the suppliers, the grocers, the producers who kept the kitchen running and the glasses full, you were never just business. You were part of it. Every delivery, every handshake, every favour when we needed one. Thank you!
And Picton itself. This funny, fierce, beautiful little town. The schools, the locals, the ones who've been here forever and the ones just passing through who somehow never quite passed through. You gave this place its soul. We just kept the lights on.
An average of 360 days a year. Morning 'til night. Closed Christmas Day and the odd staff outing.
As for what comes next, that's not our story to tell. This chapter, though? This one was ours. And what a chapter it has been.
The 30th of June 2026 is the last day under our watch. Come in. Have a flat white. Have something stronger. Have a bite. Look at that view - really look at it, and know that every single one of you was a part of what made this place worth showing up to almost daily....
Almost 26 years of it.
Thank you Picton! Thank you Marlborough! Thank you Aotearoa! Thank you World!
Be here — we are for now.
LCP
