{"id":412629,"date":"2026-05-05T09:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T09:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/412629\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T09:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T09:09:09","slug":"edinburgh-castle-inside-the-auckland-pub-with-the-dodgy-reputation-that-superstar-neil-finn-bought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/412629\/","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh Castle: Inside the Auckland pub with the dodgy reputation that superstar Neil Finn bought"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThere was a lot of trouble\u201d, he said. \u201cIt was not the right kind of business.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"The entrance to the former Edinburgh Castle has been boarded up. Photo \/ Imogene Bedford\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>The entrance to the former Edinburgh Castle has been boarded up. Photo \/ Imogene Bedford<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">The loss of the Edinburgh Castle\u2019s liquor licence in 2023 and gambling licence late last year followed a spate of violent incidents associated with the venue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">Stuff reported last year that more than 162 police complaints had been linked to the site, including a kidnapping, a stabbing and a fatal assault.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">In May 2021, MMA fighter Fau Vake was attacked by a group of men in the early hours of the morning outside the bar after a verbal altercation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">Nine days after he was punched in the head during the assault, Vake died in Auckland City Hospital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">Three of the men, all of whom had been patrons of Edinburgh Castle that night, were sentenced for their roles in his death.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"The disused interior of the Edinburgh Castle. Photo \/ Imogene Bedford\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>The disused interior of the Edinburgh Castle. Photo \/ Imogene Bedford<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">Andy said these sorts of incidents seemed to be rife at the pub, which offered accommodation for prices as low as $40 for three hours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI heard there were people being sent from the prison. They would be lined up outside here,\u201d Andy said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">A spokesperson for Corrections told the Herald there had been no formal relationship between the department and the venue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">Other business owners in the area have raised similar concerns, with staff at a local lunch spot noticing \u201cstrangers\u201d often lingered on the street in the early morning.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"After the venue lost its liquor licence, management continued to rent rooms out at low prices. Photo \/ Imogene Bedford\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>After the venue lost its liquor licence, management continued to rent rooms out at low prices. Photo \/ Imogene Bedford<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">Work on the 160-year-old building will begin once planning permissions have been approved, Finn\u2019s assistant told RNZ.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">While there are few details about the nature of the wellbeing retreat planned for the site, the purchase will further expand the musician\u2019s already significant property presence in the area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wrLLDwyWye\" style=\"display:none\">The Crowded House frontman also owns music studio Roundhead around the corner, with his wife\u2019s chandelier business Sharondelier operating out of the same building.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThere was a lot of trouble\u201d, he said. \u201cIt was not the right kind of business.\u201d The entrance&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[51,3241,12941,50673,43309,156,38268,212163,29529,2944,20829,11788,111,139,69,423,40123,13673,30618,8983,5257,1857,49519,69579,1361,223,25809,102],"class_list":["post-412629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-auckland","tag-bought","tag-castle","tag-dodgy","tag-edinburgh","tag-entertainment","tag-finn","tag-finns","tag-hoping","tag-inside","tag-locals","tag-neil","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-point","tag-pub","tag-purchase","tag-reputation","tag-signals","tag-significant","tag-site","tag-superstar","tag-symonds","tag-that","tag-the","tag-turning","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412629","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=412629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}