Bid to move historic hotel

The Tinui Hotel, the heritage landmark at the Tinui settlement on the Castlepoint Road, may be on the move to Greytown to become a private home.
It has a heritage classification II with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, meaning it is a significantly historic building to Wairarapa.
The building is also listed in the draft Wairarapa Combined District Plan as historically important.
Resource consent needs to be granted to move it. It was lodged with the Masterton District Council this month and publicly advertised at the weekend. Submissions close on Friday, July 14.
Barbara webster and husband, Duncan Galletly of Wellington are applying for the consent. They own land east of Greytown and wish to move the Tinui building there.
Mrs webster is a well-known architect with a Wellington practice specialising for the past 30 years in the preservation of old buildings.
The couple's plan is to buy just the two-storey accommodation section of the hotel complex. This 1931 construction is the third hotel to be built at Tinui, the first two having burnt down.
Left behind would be the present public bar, formerly the county council house, which means Tinui would still have a pub.
"Our proposal does not mean that Tinui is losing its hotel," the applicants say. "Removing the accommodation building enables the remaining county house public bar to function, and is more in keeping with the size and commercial support of the Tinui region."
Present owners Bruce Andrews and Joanne Bretz say they would stay on to run the pub in the meantime, but they are anxious to move on.
"We have grandkids in Australia, we'd love to see," says Mr Andrews.
In his letter of support for the move of the old hotel building to Greytown, he pointed out the hotel had been up for sale for 3? years without a realistic offer until now.
He said the hotel has been "barely economically viable" despite being open seven days a week.
"Country pubs are not what they were. Tinui is not a tourist destination. Drink driving, smoking bans, social changes and the availability of hotel accommodation and a motor camp at Castlepoint, as well as a restaurant and bar, have reduced the number of people wanting to stop at the Tinui Hotel," Mr Andrews said.
"It has been a very real stress."
He said the removal of the accommodation building would generate capital for them to make changes to the public bar and make the business more viable for sale.
"It would give us a better standard of living. Tinui would retain its pub with facilities which would better serve the community."
Mr Andrews also said the hotel sat in the settlement's flood hazard zone and as recently as two years ago "water has been within eight inches of the floor of the hotel."
In justifying the building's removal and relocation, the flood risk was also mentioned. "There is clear certainty of regular ongoing flood damage to the hotel structure that presents a danger to the building and to public safety," say the applicants.
Mrs webster said her research had revealed the hotel had been flooded at least 10 times in the past 100 years. Just four years after it was built, the lower floor was totally inundated with floodwaters.
She and her husband had gone to a "great deal of care" to consult as much as possible. This includes working closely with the Historic Places Trust and the Tinui community.
At a meeting in the Tinui Memorial Hall on May 11, arranged by Mrs webster and Mr Galletly with the residents, it was generally agreed that Tinui wanted to see a pub retained.
Mrs webster said there was also empathetic sentiment for the predicament of the present owners being "trapped" with a commercial business that was barely economically viable, dangerous to invest in because of flood risk, and unable to attract a buyer.
She said they had arranged the meeting with some trepidation but were made to feel very welcome.
With regard to the heritage aspect of the building, Mrs webster said she is "totally committed" to working with the Historic Places Trust on this project.