Well I’m pleased to report that I’m going to have to a bit of word-eating right about now. Joe Rich has been in contact with me apologising for the delay in communication, and attached a copy of a memo currently being distributed to all NZ Starbucks stores, which really does reinforce the contents of our conversation. The memo reinforces the need for disabled customer’s drinks to be either delivered to their tables or brought round the front of the counter

You may remember, if you saw the CloseUp piece on this site, that Starbucks were going to get in touch with me regarding the accessibility of their stores. Whilst I’m pleased to say they did get in touch a week later, and I did meet up with a man by the name of Joe Rich, I’m incredibly disappointed by what has happened since. By “what has happened”, I mean that absolutely nothing has happened. In fact, during Joe and I’s

The battle of the coffee chains has begun. Shortly after CloseUp’s story on this site on TV One last night, I received an email from an Esquires staff member, promising a vastly superior experience to the one I had at Starbucks, which is located in the same building. So I had to go check it out, and I’m pleased to report: he was right! For a start, it’s a heck of a lot easier to access Esquires, as there are

After gushing about how fantastic the disabled toilet at Starbucks in Ponsonby is, I feel it’s time for a degree of clarification. Because after careful analysis of my most oft-frequented Starbucks, next to Aotea Square on Queen Street, I’ve decided that as wheelchair-friendly as the Ponsonby Road store is, the Queen Street one certainly brings things down a notch. Previously a Planet Hollywood outlet, and this is the reason for its bizarrely futuristic architecture, I like this Starbucks because a)

You’d think it was a fairly easy concept to grasp, that wheelchair users might want to, oh I dunno, fit into the disabled bathroom provided for them, so it kinda defeats the purpose when places decide their new accessible bathroom would look great as a storage room. Perhaps it is the size, that puts them off? The sudden realisation that gosh, this is so much larger than our regular toilet, perhaps we can do something with all the extra space..

The folks in Ponsonby Road’s Starbucks know me quite well these days. Not because I’m buying oodles of their sugar-laden cocktails, but because I’m a regular consumer of their fantastic disabled bathroom. Why would I go to Starbucks just to use their bathroom, you ask? Well, it’s because I love Cezanne, which is directly across the road. Only problem is, the place itself is about as accessible as soft sandy beaches. Bless them, they are still hanging on to the

It’s true, I said it: I’m in love with a cafe. Anywhere that succeeds in being funky and arty, without the generally associated pretentiousness, as well as serving great coffee and eggs benedict, whilst being wheelchair-friendly, earns the big tick in my book. ‘Roasted’, as it is affectionately known, is situated in the heart of the Kingsland shops; 487 New North Road, to be exact. It’s a cute little orange place with tables and chairs outside, directly opposite the hulking