The Tin Hut up for sale

One of Wairarapa's oldest country pubs that has survived for 154 years and has provided a livelihood for 55 publicans is back on the market.
The Tin Hut at Tauherenikau opened in 1857, just three years after Greytown - New Zealand's oldest planned inland town - was established and has survived through feast, fire and famine ever since.
It was one of several pubs built along or near rivers in Wairarapa and operating with what were known as Bush Licences, partly designed to cater for early day travellers who became stranded because of floods.
Present owner of The Tin Hut Marcus Darley has been the licensee for seven years, and has completely refurbished the grand old lady, inside and out.
In that time The Tin Hut has gone considerably upmarket, attracting clientele from throughout the Wairarapa Valley, the Hutt Valley and Wellington region.
It has also become home to the Cross Creek Blues Club, that holds regular club meetings and gigs there and has quickly become a major musical attraction for Wairarapa.
Mr Darley said yesterday that he had already had some interest in buying the pub that now sports a top-class restaurant and he is starting to contemplate his own future away from The Tin Hut.
Even though the past few years have seen big changes The Tin Hut management has nevertheless jealously guarded the old pub's role as a local pub and, as part of a marketing strategy, has deliberately kept prices down. Mr Darley says he winces when he is in Wellington and sees bottles of wine selling there for over twice the price of those at The Tin Hut.
The first publican was Thomas Hale, who kept the pub for just a year before selling to Robert Lucas in 1858. Mr Lucas had a family upset when his wife died there, she being originally buried on the site of the now Tauherenikau racecourse before being reburied in Featherston cemetery.
In 1923 the pub was destroyed by fire and a temporary licence was granted for alcohol to be sold from a premises over the road while The Tin Hut was rebuilt.
In the early 1930s Fred Brough - father of later well known businesswoman Paula Brough - became licensee and he was to have a second stint as publican during World War II.
In 1960 the pub was under the control of Cyril O'Donnell, who was later a land agent in Greytown.