\u201cWe tried a few times to look for something around this spot, but then this opportunity came across and we just couldn\u2019t miss it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thought when we walked in here was it\u2019s such an iconic spot, heaps of history this place has got. It was a shame to have the place shut, so we thought lets take a chance and bring it back to new life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hurunui Hotel first opened in 1868. Photo \/ RNZ, Anna Sargent<\/p>\n
The Hurunui Hotel has been serving guests since 1868 and is the oldest continuously licensed pub in Canterbury.<\/p>\n
The two-storey building, constructed of locally quarried limestone, holds a special place in many locals\u2019 memories.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone I spoke to had a story about this place,\u201d Sharma said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people had their first date here, some people had their kid\u2019s 10th birthday, you know heaps of different stories. People just love to be back here and they\u2019re so happy that the place is back open.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharma said the response from the community since reopening had been overwhelmingly positive, despite some teething issues.<\/p>\n
He had planned the hotel\u2019s revival in three stages.<\/p>\n
The initial focus was on reopening the bar and restaurant. The second stage would see a function area open, capable of hosting up to 100 people with its own bar and kitchen.<\/p>\n
The final stage was reopening the upstairs accommodation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these things are in progress, by the middle of January we should have function area open,\u201d Sharma said.<\/p>\n
He also saw potential in the hotel\u2019s outdoor space, which included a beer garden with a pond and waterfall, a gazebo, and a camping area with facilities for travellers.<\/p>\n
For now, Sharma was leasing the hotel and he said any profits would be reinvested into the business, with a goal of buying the property after three years.<\/p>\n
He credited his family for helping him take the leap to take on the hotel.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother Harry who owns the Southbridge Hotel, the Coalgate Tavern as well as the Springfield Hotel, he mentioned that this is your legacy, either do it right or don\u2019t do it,\u201d Sharma said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has just said that the place sells itself, because of the iconic history and being on the Alpine Pacific road. To be able to open the place up meant a lot to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
– RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe tried a few times to look for something around this spot, but then this opportunity came across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5845,8126,6628,6735,129513,78,111,43,139,69,1854,129514],"class_list":["post-213974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-anna","tag-canterbury","tag-historic","tag-hotel","tag-hurunui","tag-in","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-reopens","tag-sargent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}