A legendary South Island pub has been forced to remove its popular outdoor seating or face a $20,000 fine after it was decided the tables and chairs fell outside the licensed boundary.
Located in the small West Coast town of Blackball, with a population of 300, the Formerly the Blackball Hilton is a staple pub in the local mining community.
The town played an important role in New Zealand’s labour movement, with the 1908 miners’ strike a foundation stone in the formation of the Labour Party in 1916.
For many years, outside the Formerly the Blackball Hilton sat tables, creating a spot that has connected locals and tourists.
But now, the community is in uproar, after the tables were forced to be removed when it was decided they fell outside the alcohol licensing boundary.
Cythia Robins, who has owned the hotel and pub since 2012, said it was a routine licensing renewal that drew attention to the tables.
“We’ve been relicensed four or five times under the 2013 Sale and Supply of Liquor,” Robins said.
“The tables have been there the whole time and they’ve never been an issue.”
Robins said what she thought was another routine licence renewal has been “a real process” because there were objections to people sitting and drinking alcohol at the tables.
“Because the tables are outside the licensed area, they appear to be part of the hotel’s licensed area, and so people just naturally take a drink and sit at them as they have for decades.”
Robins said that the licence renewal was “tabled” by the District Licensing Committee – an independent body appointed to determine applications for alcohol licences.
The tables were swiftly removed by Robins, who said she was not prepared to risk the fines of up to $20,000 if people sat at the table with alcohol.
“Because if one person sits at those tables with a drink, we’re up for a fine or a loss of licence,” she said.
“We’re not prepared to put our staff and ourselves at that kind of risk of those massive fines.”
But she said the rules also felt swayed, as she knew of many businesses in Greymouth that had been allowed to extend the boundary to allow for outdoor seating.
“Currently down in Greymouth, which is exactly the same council, there is an outdoor dining policy which allows licensed premises down in Greymouth to build permanent structures across the footpath and put tables underneath them,” she said.
Robins said this was never offered as an option when she approached the council, but that a new licence granted on March 2 meant patrons could occupy part of the outdoor area.
This renewed licence still did not extend to the outdoor seating area.
“They would only give us a licence to occupy the veranda space because this is a historic building and part of the building is actually on public land.
“They granted us a licence to occupy that small portion but they didn’t go further out into the area because it’s the side of the road, and they say we’re obstructing the footpath.”
Robins said she had since written to the council, requesting the outdoor dining policy be extended.
“The tables have been there for decades. It’s not as though that it’s a new thing that traffic have to avoid them or anything.
“They’re like six metres off the centre line, they’re not even close to the trucks leaving the mine up the road.
“Rush hour in Blackball is three cars leaving the shop up the road with their takeaways at 6pm.
“It’s not a busy thoroughfare like down in Greymouth, it’s just not.
“These tables form an integral part of the social fabric of Blackball and the West Coast.
“There’s so many of these little pubs all around New Zealand, not just in Blackball and stuff, that are actually closing down because they’re no longer viable because everything like this impacts on these businesses until to the point that you actually can’t stay in business.
“And a lot of these hotels are selling and they’re going into private residences, they’re not actually staying in the hospitality market.
“It’s a shame that so many of these things are happening.
“I would hate for the Blackball Hilton to follow suit.”
Peter O’Sullivan, Grey District Council GM for economic development and regulatory, said there had been “confusion over the physical boundaries of the new licence”.
“For some years, patrons of the hotel have been consuming alcohol purchased from the hotel in an outdoor seating area outside the hotel on the road verge.
“The area was outside of the hotel’s legal boundary, and the hotelier had no formal authority under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 to control alcohol activities in this area.
“As a council, we worked hard with the hotel to get a licence to occupy the outdoor area.
“A licence to occupy agreement was agreed and issued to include the area associated with the hotel building.
“However, this agreement does not encompass the entire area previously used by patrons.
“A new licence was issued on 2nd March 2026 after considerable deliberation by the DLC.
“There was some confusion over the physical boundaries of the new licence, which have now been clarified.”