Historic tavern offers taste of times gone by

Built in 1857, The Riverhead Tavern boasts bar, bottle store, lounge and restaurant facilities. Photo / Supplied

The historic Riverhead Tavern, which claims to hold New Zealand's second oldest liquor licence, is up for sale by mortgagee tender through Michael Pleciak and Ben Bayley of Bayleys Auckland, closing on November 17.

The tavern is on the upper reaches of the Waitemata Harbour and located on a prominent 3650sq m corner site on the bank of the Rangitopuni River, an inlet off the Waitemata Harbour. It is part of the small township of Riverhead, about a 30-minute drive north-west of the Auckland CBD.

Established in 1857, the historic 570sq m tavern, on the corner of York Terrace and Queen St, Riverhead, is a mixed-age three-storey structure, built in a number of stages for tavern and restaurant use with the manager's accommodation on the upper floor.

The tavern's public bar is at the street frontage of the premises with the main building's facilities including a TAB, bottle store, lounge and restaurant bar. The other side of the building features a large river bar with big deck area and garden from which patrons have views of the upper harbour inlet - a tidal river that gives boats access to the Hauraki Gulf. The property has its own floating dock private jetty which can be used by boaties dropping in for a drink or meal when the tide is in.

A corporate events company has utilised this facility for team building exercises and kayaking trips, with the tavern offering barbecue lunches. It has also been a popular venue for live band music in recent years. Regular local events held at the tavern include quiz nights and pool while Saturday and Sunday brunches are popular with weekend visitors and locals alike.

The tavern occupies a crescent-shaped lot of 2299sq m, with around 80m of street frontage. A second lot to the west is currently vacant.

Pleciak says this land could either be used to further develop the tavern facilities or to add to the accommodation.

" Or it could be used or sold off for residential development with the property having a medium intensity residential zoning," Pleciak says.

Riverhead itself is a small village situated on Highway 28 and just off Highway 16 which runs from the northwestern motorway in Auckland City to Helensville on the Kaipara Harbour. The area was once a major gum-digging site settled by Dalmatian immigrants among others. In the early pioneering days of gum-digging and the logging and timber trade, Riverhead and its tavern were popular stopover spots for travellers.

The tavern is among a number of historic properties in Riverhead. A school was established in 1872. It currently has 11 classrooms and caters for new entrants through to Year 8. A well-preserved citizen's hall in the township is almost 100 years of age. The Kauri Gum Store & Cafe is another popular spot frequented by locals and weekend visitors while the nearby War Memorial Park is the venue for rugby, cricket, athletics and a bowling club. The Huapai Golf Club is also nearby. Pleciak says the character of the area has changed since the timber mills, which provided much of the employment, closed and some of the surrounding properties have been subdivided into lifestyle blocks.

In addition to market gardening, fruit growing and vineyards have developed in the area and in nearby Kumeu.