After giving Evolution Bar a mighty good send-off in 2008, it’s time to introduce Massey Albany students to the new bar on campus: The Ferguson. Not without its controversy: Evolution, was 100% owned by the Albany Students’ Association and was originally been told to forced to shut down in mid 2008 order to make way for the new facility, but was able to continue running in 2008 due to the continual delays associated with creating the new bar. However, with 2009 comes a new era: The Ferguson is ready for students to come and try out everything that it has to offer, primarily focussed both within its proximately to the main campus and its potential to become Albany’s entertainment hub.

Andrew Waite and Andrew Jackson, the managers of the privately owned bar, are no strangers to Massey University Albany. Former students of the Albany campus themselves (starting in 1994 and 1996 respectively), they quickly realised the need early on for a place where Massey students could congregate on a regular basis. Having been in “the liquor game” for over a decade (their other premise is The Saint in Browns Bay), the Andrew’s first bought a proposal regarding a new student bar to Massey approximately 5 years ago, where it was promptly turned down. Waite attributes Andrea Davies, the Regional Registrar for Massey University, in being instrumental to the proposal being accepted by those in power here at Massey.

Waite calls Massey Albany a “new campus under an old name” and so in order to commemorate the long standing history of the university, both the Andrew’s decided on the name ‘The Ferguson’ in order to honour the former Prime Minister of New Zealand and namesake of Massey University, Mr William Ferguson Massey himself.  This theme of the “heroes of Massey” will also be incorporated into the décor of the new bar, in order to remind students that even with the trials and tribulations associated with being a student that, as Waite says, “We’re all part of something bigger”.

Situated under the Recreation Centre, The Ferguson will offer students somewhere to gather while they’re hanging around campus. Waite claims that one of their priorities is the affordability of their food and drinks so that the average student is able to afford to dine or drink there. Drinkwise, such specials include $4.50 beers, $5 doubles and the proposed “Cuppy Night” on a Wednesday, where each patron is given a plastic cup which can then constantly be refilled for a certain price.  However, The Ferguson isn’t all about the drinking. Students are more than welcome to “bring their lunches”, as Waite wants students to treat the venue as “…a meeting place, a common room”.

Waite isn’t concerned about the other bars frequently popping up within the Albany region, saying that “competition is good because it makes you get better at what you do”. His view is that the proximately to students and the ability to offer highly subsidised prices will make The Ferguson the first choice for the average student. As he continually emphasises, a bar on a campus should be there to serve students and be accountable to their needs but it should also be accessible to those in the wider community as well.

The Ferguson will be the venue for such orientation events as Pure and Squeeze during Orientation Week. Why not scope out the new premises and see what it has to offer you during your time at Albany?