Oldest pub in these parts

MAARTEN HOLL/The Dominion Post

PRICKLY CLAIM: Richard Walsh at the Thistle Inn, which he says is the oldest pub in New Zealand. A Turnbull Library picture shows the Thistle, the middle building, in about 1843.

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A good old stoush is brewing over the site of New Zealand's oldest pub, with establishments in Wellington and Nelson among those claiming the title.

Wellington's Thistle Inn bases its claim on a stairwell, two doors and a wall from 1840.

Owner Lyn Middleditch said Maori chiefs were supposed to have pulled waka on to the Thorndon foreshore and downed ales at the bar.

The pub closed for six months after a fire in 1866 but the surviving stairs, wall and doors were reused when it was rebuilt.

She said, importantly, the licence was not allowed to lapse while the new bar was built.

Manager Richard Walshe said the existence of original parts, coupled with the continuous licence established its title.

Mrs Middleditch said the owners of the Moutere Inn, 20 kilometres west of Nelson, were wrong to advertise their 1850 hotel as the oldest.

But Moutere Inn co-owner Kieron Lattimer said the Thistle was not the original building.

"To be left with a stairwell and wall does not mean the building has survived."

The Moutere Inn was built in 1850 by German settlers and was open before its first licence was issued in 1853, he said.

The Moutere had seen pints pulled for the longest period under an original roof in New Zealand and the inn would continue to be advertised as such.

"It is possible to maintain a licence by working from a tent, as would have happened with the Thistle, but I cannot accept the building on that site is 168 years old.

"Our claim is based on the age of our building and its use as a pub – both of which are from 1850."

Other pubs claiming the title include Christchurch's Tai Tapu Hotel, at Halswell (1856), and the pub at the sleepy town of Horeke in Northland.

The Duke of Marlborough Hotel, burnt down and rebuilt three times on the same site in Russell, Bay of Islands, claims New Zealand's No 1 licence for an inn or public house, issued on July 14, 1840.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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Caine Rogers   #4   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

It does not matter that the thistle burnt down it is still in its original place and has a tonne of history. how many pubs can claim the warrior Te Raupraha drank at their establishment. I myself have worked at the thistle while it was geting its latest revamp. Great bar with an amazing atmosphere. RIP George.

DENNIS WADLEY   #3   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I recieved many a-good drinking grog lessons in the Thistle ,it was my 2nd home, During the 60,s . The Pub had style. Dennis.

m davis   #2   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

really old people

Grint Holloway   #1   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Who cares?

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