In those days there were three gangs in town. Each had their own pub, the Fosters, the Criterion and the Imperial public bars. Always handy when I had to chat to one or two of them. Just call in, they were usually there or not far away.
All those public bars had two entrances so it was always wise to have a mate at the other entrance when calling. The Imperial’s “emergency exit” when the fuzz were calling was the sliding window leading onto the alleyway to the TAB. All good fun.
All of the pubs offered accommodation of some standard or other. A requirement under their liquor licences. They also offered meals. Standards ranged from pretty good meals at Tim Hurley’s Grand Hotel to decent plain fare elsewhere.
The licensees were all characters too. Mein hosts extraordinaire, humorous, helpful, and welcoming.
I have already mentioned Tim Hurley, a real character who ran the biggest pub in town. Two others I recall with pleasant memories were Mike McCarthy who actually ran two pubs, the Red lion and the Riverside, and Lyndsay Wheeler, who kept a close handle on the Fosters. All good guys who were enjoyable company.
In those days a few of the pubs had bands calling and a great social scene in their lounge bars, including the Fosters, the Rutland and the Grand. The bars would be packed, smoke hovering like a cloud over the punters, bouncers on the doors and strong behaviour standards enforced.
Some of the pubs had a few regulars and I used to wonder how they made a living but the regulars were loyal and organised their own fun. It was a time when a licensee could make a decent living in a pub.
Pubs had connection to sports teams, especially out-of-town rugby clubs who would descend on the town near the end of the season for away matches with local clubs.
Even the odd international team would be accommodated.
Slowly over the years I noticed the pubs disappearing. The Station Hotel on Taupō Quay, the Provincial, the Imperial, the Criterion and sadly, in my mind the pub with the best atmosphere in town, the Federal, closed its early opening doors. In those days, many New Zealand towns still had early-opening pubs for shift workers to call for some refreshment. An old custom going back to the rough old frontier days. The Federal was Whanganui’s early opener.
Also, the hotels that remained changed. Almost all slowly lost their hugely busy lounge bars, the Rutland Hotel’s enormous lounge bar completely disappearing in a redevelopment in the early nineties. Now a place for al fresco eating and a carpark.
Many still keep their accommodation and dining facilities. In fact fine dining has become more the main business in many of the old hotels still operating. One or two have completely changed to restaurants with a bar incorporated.
One pub that has stood the test of time pretty much unchanged is the Commercial Hotel in Bell Street. It still looks much the same as it has for generations. A hotel has been on the site since 1858 under different names, becoming the Commercial Hotel in 1892. Its street view is unchanged from those days.
I remember the old Albion Hotel opposite the Courthouse but that has since been demolished. Along with the Rutland and the Commercial, it was an establishment that once catered for the soldiers stationed at the Rutland Stockade. Walking distance to barracks but a challenging climb up the hill for some after a long night.
Rob Rattenbury is a retired police officer who lives in Whanganui. He has been a columnist for the Whanganui Chronicle since 2019.
