Iconic Cardrona Hotel sold to group of New Zealand investors

One of Central Otago’s most recognisable landmarks begins a new chapter under Wānaka businessman Warren Barclay. Photo / George Heard

One of the country’s most photographed pubs – and a fixture of the Central Otago landscape – has new owners.

A group of New Zealand investors, led by Wānaka-based businessman Warren Barclay, have bought the 162-year-old pub that was listed for sale in July.

Barclay is the owner of Experience Group, which runs hospitality for big sports events.

He says the group is committed to preserving the Cardrona’s Hotel’s heritage, while exploring ways to improve its boutique accommodation, dining and events.

Cade Thornton, who has owned the pub with his partner Alexis and James and Fleur Jenneson since 2013, said the decision to sell had been indescribably difficult.

The group decided it was time to step back and focus on their young families, he said.

“It’s just such a friendly, happy place. It’s a great environment to work and to be the custodian, the captain of that, is tremendously rewarding, and to see the place change in our time. It’s defined my life, really.”

The hotel on the Crown Range Rd between Wānaka and Queenstown included a restaurant, year-round beer garden, and 17 ensuite hotel rooms sleeping up to 44 guests.

Its facade dated back to a now-vanished gold rush town that thrived in the 1860s, when Cardrona was a bustling settlement supporting thousands of Otago gold rush miners.

Cade Thornton said it employed 40 to 50 staff, and the hotel was often fully booked.

“The business is in really good stead. I’ve got some very long-term senior staff who love the pub and their jobs and their roles, and they want to see it through with the new owner,” he said.

He said the hotel attracted people from all walks of life.

“We’ll have guests arriving by helicopter, all dressed up for a nice meal, and then the local farmers will come in, leaving their gumboots by the door. I don’t think there’s any other place quite like it in New Zealand.”

Thornton had said he hoped the next owner would have a “real passion” for the pub.

“Fifty % of buying it would be that you’d have to love it. You couldn’t just look at it as a business opportunity. You’d have to be passionate about the business, the pub, its history, its potential,” he said.

-By RNZ