The legacy of William Gregg is deeply ingrained in Dunedin’s history. With the closure of Gregg’s coffee factory imminent, The Star reporter Sam Henderson uncovers how a small coffee importing firm became a national powerhouse. For more than a century and a-half, the earthy aroma of roasting coffee has drifted across the city, serving as a sensory reminder of a commercial empire forged in the frantic fires of the Otago gold rush. At the heart of this manufacturing enterprise stands an Irish immigrant who crossed oceans in search of fortune. William Gregg was born in 1836 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. As a very young man he sniffed opportunity in the Ballarat gold fields of Australia. Instead of the backbreaking labour of mining, he took advantage of miners needing daily provisions by setting up a coffee and spice manufacturing business. When gold was discovered in Otago in 1861, he lost no time shifting his operation to Dunedin.…