Reg Hennessy has been inducted into the Hospitality Association of New Zealand Hall of Fame. Photo / Kelly Makiha
Reg Hennessy has been inducted into the Hospitality Association of New Zealand Hall of Fame. Photo / Kelly Makiha
Someone once told Reg Hennessy his personality suited owning a pub.
They weren’t wrong.
When the Rotorua Daily Post comes to interview Hennessy about his recent honour – induction into the Hospitality Association of New Zealand Hall of Fame – it is immediately obvious how true-blue a publican heis.
He is out the front of his iconic Hennessy’s Irish Bar in the heart of Rotorua, yarning to some blokes.
He says to head inside and grab a coffee on the house.
On his way over minutes later, he makes a quick stop at a table of regulars to give them a bit of stick and have a good old laugh.
Reg and Sue Hennessy (centre) with Lion New Zealand managing director Craig Baldie (left) and Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell. Photo / Supplied
Hennessy’s Irish Bar is 25 years old next year, and while it’s its namesake’s signature pub, there have been a string of others – including taverns, bars and liquor stores – under his ownership in the nearly 50 years he’s been in the industry.
Born and raised in Te Aroha, Hennessy was a rising rugby star in his earlier years, playing as a loose forward for Thames Valley. In the early 1980s, he headed to Europe to play rugby in Scotland and Wales.
His rugby took him to Australia, where he captained a Victorian state side.
It was there a bloke in the club he played for told him he had the personality for running pubs.
Reg Hennessy behind the bar in 2021. Photo / File
This chap stood by his word so much, he put up partial funding to get Hennessy into his first business – it was about $250,000 for a lease then, back in the mid-1980s.
In his mid-20s, Hennessy was the proud owner of a pub in Port Melbourne.
Admittedly it was “rough as f**k”, with a clientele of the “painters and dockers union”. But it was the start he needed in an industry he grew to love.
He married and had two daughters – Chloe and Hillary – but realised he didn’t want to raise his children in Australia.
He came home to New Zealand for the 1987 Rugby World Cup and, between watching the games, worked on a deal to buy the Waiotapu Tavern, south of Rotorua.
Reg Hennessy in earlier years.
“I remember at the time driving back up to Auckland and went past the Red Fox Tavern and my mother was saying ‘oh you can’t be buying a pub, it’s too dangerous’.”
His mother was referring to the infamous case when a pub owner was gunned down and killed in 1987 at the Red Fox Tavern. The killers, who fled with tens of thousands of dollars in cash, coins and cheques, were jailed 30 years later.
Hennessy had the Waiotapu Tavern for four years before moving into the wholesale liquor business. He eventually ran stores under the Cheep Liquor name in Rotorua, Papakura, Māngere, Tauranga and Cambridge. But he got out of the game when booze started to be sold in supermarkets, signalling a downturn in his liquor business.
In 2002, when supermarkets started selling cheap alcohol, Reg Hennessy tried to get them back by selling cheap milk. Photo / File
He was shoulder-tapped by Lion Breweries to open an Irish bar in the heart of Rotorua – something the thriving tourist town seemed to be missing.
Along the way, Hennessy – who said he had Irish heritage – built or owned several other pubs. He built Churchills (now Kasper’s Sports Bar) on Tutanekai St, The Corner Bar at Eastside near where the Good Eastern is now and owned the Mangakino and Mitchell Downs taverns for periods.
There was only one “failure” among them and that was The Shed, in Rotorua Central. But in its heyday, it was a thriving restaurant and night spot.
“One thing I have always prided myself on is the running of tough pubs in tough areas. The streets of Rotorua were different in those days. There was no CCTV footage, it was all down to keeping on top of gangs and your clientele.”
Hennessy said business at Hennessy’s was now bouncing back after a tough period since the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are going very well. We sold out of steak last night because of Field Days. We had a great summer and tourism is back. Winter is always tough in the industry.”
Hennessy married his second wife, Sue, two years ago and said she had been instrumental in his continued success.
“If I’d met Sue 25 years ago, I’d be a multi-millionaire by now.”
Reg Hennessy in 2009. Photo / File
Among the career highlights over the decades were hosting visitors during two Lions’ tours to New Zealand – the first in 2005 when he sold 85 kegs of Guinness in one night.
“It was party central here. There will never be a bigger party in Rotorua.”
Three years ago, he and Sue made the tough call to leave Rotorua and move to Arapuni – leaving Hennessy’s daughter, Hillary, to largely run Hennessy’s.
It was a time when Rotorua was struggling with homelessness issues and Hennessy said they felt themselves getting too weighed down by it.
But there was no denying his love for Rotorua would always remain, and fighting for Rotorua was why he was so outspoken at the time.
“We lived on Sophia St [near the emergency housing motels]. It was one of the reasons we left, I needed to get that spark back and needed a break away.”
But the 71-year-old makes the 50-minute drive back to Rotorua on nearly a daily basis. If not to check in on the pub, then to hit the pools.
Reg Hennessy running the 2007 Rotorua Marathon. Photo / File
The keen athlete, who has completed 19 marathons including the New York Marathon, can’t run anymore because of dodgy knees but spends over an hour most days walking lengths of the pools at the Polynesian Spa.
For Hennessy, Rotorua will always be home and he was thrilled to have a hand in securing the next Hospitality Association of New Zealand Conference for Rotorua.
“There will be 500 people coming to Rotorua next year so that’ll be huge.”
Hospitality New Zealand national president Kristy Phillips said outstanding individuals were selected for the Hall of Fame to recognise their service and dedication to the organisation and to the industry.
“Reg was selected this year for his long-standing commitment to the Rotorua community, his role as Hospitality New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty branch president for the past 25 years, and his leadership within the hospitality industry.”
As for what lies ahead for Hennessy, he said for the first time in decades he had a brilliant team capable of steering the ship without him – but he wasn’t ready to retire.
“I don’t think I’ll ever retire. That’s my ambition anyway.”
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
