History experts hosting tour of iconic Whanganui pub sites

Anchor Hotel on the corner of Bates and Bell Streets, which eventually became the Commercial Hotel. Photo / William James Harding Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library

History buffs will soon have the chance to visit pubs and hotels from Whanganui’s past.

A pub crawl has been organised by Megan Orme-Whitlock from the Whanganui branch of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists, the Alexander Library’s Jasmin Ratana and Whanganui District Council heritage adviser Scott Flutey.

The society celebrates Family History Month in August, and Orme-Whitlock said they wanted to do something new and interesting, and something that would engage younger people.

She said pubs were once the social centre of Whanganui.

“People lived there and met there for all their social events.

“Pubs were an important place and, because Whanganui was a garrison town, there were lots of them. It was a vibrant scene.”

The Rutland and York stockades housed around 250 soldiers “who liked to socialise”, she said.

In 1892, there were around 40 licenced sites in Whanganui.

There were no more than 10,000 people living in the town at that time.

Ratana said Whanganui had a lot of female publicans through the years.

“They raised families in the hotel, and when the husband died, the wife carried on.

“One was Atkinson’s Hotel. [David Atkinson] died [in 1870] before they even started, but Celia Atkinson decided to carry on and build it.

“She was quite the businesswoman. She tried to set up another pub and get a licence on Taupō Quay but got refused. She moved to Palmerston North and set up pubs there instead.”

The tour will stop at Stellar, which was once Foster's Hotel. Photo / Bevan Conley

Flutey said each suburb had its own pub in days gone by but most, like today, were located in the town centre.

“Especially towards the waterfront, where you had quays and merchant precincts.

“I think there were concerns about having too much drinking going on, especially by the 1890s, when you had the temperance movement coming in.”

The New Zealand branch of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union met for the first time in February 1885. Members criticised alcohol use, promoted abstinence and pressured the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation.

The introduction of the “six o’clock swill”, adopted in 1917 and abolished in 1967, also “changed things quite dramatically”, Flutey said.

Pubs were required to shut at 6pm, causing a rush to the bar before closing time. It was extended to 10pm in New Zealand on October 9, 1967.

Flutey said he wasn’t sure exactly when the first pub opened in Whanganui, but he would have an answer in time for the tour.

Orme-Whitlock said descendants of Whanganui publicans were most likely still in town.

“We’d love for them to come along.

“It’s interesting when you look at all the different people who have been publicans at the Rutland, for example - some of those names are still around.

“The same goes for The Red Lion. I actually found out my husband’s great-great-grandfather was a publican there for a while.”

The trip is beginning, middling and ending at sites still operating - The Commercial Hotel, Stellar (formerly Foster’s Hotel) and The Rutland Arms.

Between 11 and 13 places will be visited, including where the Criterion, Metropolitan, Federal and Prince of Wales hotels once operated.

The tour is free but booking is essential. There are 25 spots available.

It will be on Saturday, August 26 from 2.30pm–5pm and begins in the Commercial Hotel at 2 Bell St.

People can sign up by emailing jasmin@whanganuilibrary.com phoning (06) 349 3201.

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.