History
The building at 126 Madras Street, Christchurch was the headquarters of the Christchurch Polytechnic Students’ Association (CPSA), the student body of Christchurch Polytechnic (later CPIT, then Ara Institute of Canterbury). Before it became known as a mid-sized live music venue, the CPSA building served primarily as a students’ union social hub — a common function for polytechnic student associations throughout New Zealand from the 1980s onward.
The venue hosted notable concerts in its own right prior to The Bedford era. In November 2011, it was one of the Christchurch venues used for the Flying Nun Records 30th anniversary celebrations — a multi-night series of shows bringing together key artists from the label’s history. Acts performing across the anniversary events included The Clean, the Subliminals, T54, Delaney Davidson, and HDU, among others. These shows were significant for post-earthquake Christchurch, taking place just months after the February 2011 earthquake had devastated the city’s central entertainment district.
From 2012, The Bedford operated out of the CPSA building as a dedicated live music venue. The Bedford was aimed at mid-sized touring acts and was operated by Wendy Alfeld. The Bedford’s original CBD location had been destroyed in the February 2011 earthquake; after a period under a marquee at 86 Moorhouse Avenue — which was shut following noise complaints from a Six60 concert on 23 March 2012 — it relocated to the Madras Street building. The new space could accommodate approximately 1,000 people and provided concert-scale sound and lighting rigs. As NZ Musician described it, the Bedford’s aim was “to provide larger scale NZ and smaller international touring acts with a decent place to play in Christchurch.”
The venue hosted a consistent stream of New Zealand and international acts through the mid-2010s: Carl Cox, Andy C, Shapeshifter, The Black Seeds, Tech N9ne, Ladyhawke, Katchafire (multiple visits), Noisia, I Am Giant, Devilskin, and Blacklistt all played there. The venue was a finalist for the inaugural Music Managers’ Forum Best Venue award in 2012, recognised alongside other post-earthquake Christchurch venues as an essential part of rebuilding the city’s live music circuit. Alfeld was praised by the music industry at the time: “Under trying circumstances since September 2010, owner Wendy Newland has done an incredible job of getting these types of acts back into Christchurch.” The venue appears to have wound down around 2016; CPIT merged with Aoraki Polytechnic to become Ara Institute of Canterbury that year, and documented live music activity at the site ceases from this period.
Details
Location: 126 Madras Street, Central Christchurch
Also known as: The Bedford; The Bedford at CPSA; The Bedford at CPIT
Active as a live music venue: 2011 – ~2016
Current Status: The building at 126 Madras Street continues to operate as the Christchurch Polytechnic Students’ Association (CPSA). The venue’s live music use ended when The Bedford moved out (~2016), but the building itself remains in use as a students’ association headquarters.
Capacity: ~1,000
Links
- The Bedford at CPSA — Eventfinda