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Historic country hotel goes on the market for sale
Historic country hotel goes on the market for sale
One of the New Zealand’s most historic pubs has been placed on the market for sale.
The Hurunui Hotel in North Canterbury is famous in New Zealand for its liquor license - having held a license continuously since July 1860, one of the longest periods in country.
The main Hurunui Hotel building is a Category 1 Heritage-listed structure which has just undergone a substantial eight week upgrade programme before re-opening earlier this month.
Tracing its history, original owner John Hastie was granted a conditional license for the ‘Hurunui Accommodation House’. Conditions included "that he keep eight beds in four bedrooms, shelter for six horses, provide stock yards for yoking up cattle, provide horses for travellers to ford the river; and also direct strangers to a safe fording place."
Over the ensuing century-and-a-half, the business has morphed from being simply a ‘stagecoach hotel’ into what is now a multiple revenue-stream hospitality hub. The Hurunui Hotel businesses, land and buildings, are now being marketed for sale by Bayleys Canterbury hospitality specialists Kate Mullins and Peter Harris through a tender process closing on November 19.
The offering includes:
• The Hurunui Hotel – a pioneer style country pub serving traditional fare, with in-house seven-room guest accommodation in double, twin, and four bed family sleeping configurations
• The Hurunui Village vineyard and label – encompassing riesling, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and pinot noir varietals
• The Hurunui Village Café & Restaurant function venue – with its own wine cave excavated deep into the side of a mountain and adjoining retail off license
and
• An owner/manager’s flat upstairs within the main hotel building.
Ms Mullins said the Hurunui Hotel businesses was, ironically, still a ‘stagecoach hotel’ – although the modern stagecoach was now an air-conditioned car, and customer accommodation demands were somewhat more upmarket that what first started out as a straw mattress bed and a copper bath tub in the corner of the bedrooms.
“The hotel and its surrounds have undergone several major rebuilds and expansions in recent decades. It started in 1982 when a small group of local farmers banded together to save their favoured watering spot after it had fallen into disrepair,” she said.
“The community rallied and with financial assistance and architectural guidance from The Historic Places Trust, the hotel was restored. The hotel was again refurbished in 1998, the wine cave dug out underneath the hill behind the main buildings was opened in 2009, and the main hotel building was further extended at the rear in 2010.
“Owners Rodger and Nola strong have been involved with virtually all the major works projects at the Hurunui Hotel since they bought it in 1997. For them, it has truly been a labour of love, and they have put their hearts and souls into every bit of refurbishment.
“The vineyard for example was planted in 1997 and now contains 4000 vines – producing 5500 bottles per harvest. Pressing and bottling is contracted to Torlesse Winery, which also stores the maturing juice.”
The vineyard has automated frost-protection and irrigation systems, with water sourced from an on-site bore and a 250,000 litre holding pond.
“The vineyard at the rear of the premises not only creates a scenic vista from the outdoor garden area, but also allows the hotel to operate a fully-integrated business – growing the grapes, making the wine, then selling it both on premise and off premise,” Ms Mullins said.
“From a marketing perspective this is a real
selling point for the product, with some 37 percent of
bottles being sold over the off license counter, while some
52 percent of wine produced is sold for special events and
functions booked at both the hotel and the wine
cave.”
Mr Harris said the greater Hurunui venue had previously operated as two separately-owned businesses – one running the hotel’s food, beverage and accommodation offerings, and the other servicing the winery and retail off license, the café, the restaurant, the wine cave, and cottage accommodation.
“However, it was an easy functionality-based decision to combine the two entities together for the purpose of creating a much broader hospitality offering, as well as increasing operational back house efficiencies,” he said.
“The ability to cross-sell services, as well as integrating the vineyard and wine activities into the on premise hotel was a natural progression for what has become a vertically integrated business model.”
The main Hurunui Hotel premise is licensed for 80 customers inside, with room to host an additional 100 guests outside under the verandah and grassed courtyard. The venue’s two pioneer-themed cottages were built in 2008. Each has a kitchen, dining/living room, and bedroom with ensuite.
Mr Harris said that in addition to the guest rooms in the hotel and the two cottages, the Hurunui Hotel also operated an adjoining campervan park featuring 10 powered sites, its own ablution block, as well as separate kitchen and laundry facilities.
“The strategy behind this is to cater for all price-points in the free independent traveler market,’ he said.
“The wine cave – hidden behind two impressive castle-like doors flanked by a stone block entrance - enables the Hurunui venue to cater for two private functions simultaneously. The candle-lit wine cavern offers corporate customers and function guests the option of either a modern yet rustic “Kiwi country pub’ venue in the main building, or a touch of European flair amidst the vines.
“There is potential to expand the Hurunui Hotel’s accommodation offering further to support its function operations. Overlooking the wine cave entrance are two separate building platforms which have been surveyed and consented for the creation of additional lodging units.”
ENDS
Bayleys Real Estate
New Zealand
Bayleys is New Zealand's largest full-service real estate company. We offer expertise in the marketing and sale of a wide range of property, including residential real estate, farms and lifestyle blocks, and commercial and industrial property. This includes tourism and business sales such as hotels and motels. We also cover the real estate markets in Fiji and other Pacific Islands.
Bayleys also provides a complete property and facilities service including property management and valuations teams focused on achieving both Owner and Tenant satisfaction.
No other real estate company can match our breadth of coverage across all market sectors throughout New Zealand.
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