Originally from Haryana in India, Kumar recalls being nervous about how locals would react to him acquiring the pub.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was scared, to be honest. But once the ice broke, I found out it\u2019s a different language, different culture, but all the values are the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
He and Monika are investing back into the hotel building, which comprises a pub, restaurant and accommodation.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a hospo success story at a time when thousands of businesses are closing up shop.<\/p>\n
He attributed that success to his \u201cgrandma\u2019s house\u201d approach as a publican, providing hearty meals over bar snacks and getting to know his patrons.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look after your people, your people look after you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Kumars\u2019 story mirrors those of rural publicans across Aotearoa, according to Peter Janssen, who authored New Zealand Pubs.<\/p>\n
The book recounts his journey through 170 classic New Zealand pubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like the story of the pubs, and I like what they\u2019ve meant to New Zealand over the last 150 years,\u201d he told RNZ\u2019s Country Life.<\/p>\n
At the heart of pubs that had survived over the decades were social, outgoing publicans, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to have a sit and have a chat to that boring man sitting there on his own having a beer; you\u2019re the heart of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
While such pubs have always been watering holes for rural communities, the clientele have changed in the past few decades \u2013 as have their demands.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe traditional image of the pub is, you know, a couple of old blokes sitting around a jug of beer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, young people don\u2019t want to do that. And actually, most people, older people don\u2019t want to do that anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the pubs that were surviving on that sort of trend and tradition have not survived.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pubs that have survived have broadened their drink and food offerings \u2013 like the Rotherham Hotel in North Canterbury.<\/p>\n
Darfield Hotel owners Pravesh and Monika Kumar. Photo \/ RNZ, Anisha Satya<\/p>\n
Owner Keith Fenwick, locally \u201cKiwi Keith\u201d, said food makes up about half of its business these days.<\/p>\n
\u201cYears ago it was beer; it was about 90% … it was beer for breakfast, dinner, and tea.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeer consumption has just dropped right away, especially during the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hotel now operates as a cafe during the daytime, with offerings like burgers, coffee, ice cream and homemade soup.<\/p>\n
For more than 40 years, Fenwick has lived and worked in the hotel with the help of his wife, Moira.<\/p>\n
The Rotherham Hotel building was built in the 1930s, replacing the original 1878 building, which burned down. Photo \/ RNZ, Anisha Satya<\/p>\n
Between cleaning rooms and serving patrons, he finds time to get out among the plants \u2013 he\u2019s a market gardener by trade.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d hoped to find more time for the garden in 2017, when he first put the hotel up for sale \u2013 but 10 years on, it\u2019s still on the market.<\/p>\n
There are peak busy periods \u2013 like the Amuri A&P show in March, and the North Canterbury Hunting Competition in July \u2013 but managing quiet periods and increased costs is a juggling act.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not easy, Fenwick said, but it was a rewarding job for those suited to the role of a publican.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a good business; we\u2019ll hang in there \u2019til something happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Janssen said it\u2019s often the publican who makes or breaks a country pub\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
Hotel owner Keith Fenwick with weekend barmaid Karen Keith. Photo \/ RNZ, Anisha Satya<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be calm, you\u2019ve got to be organised, and you\u2019ve got to like people; It\u2019s a great lifestyle if you\u2019re really keen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s one called the Silver Stream Hotel in Kimbell, near Fairlie, where a young couple took it over and just turned it around.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a fantastic pub, but that was a deliberate choice about a lifestyle they wanted to lead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donna Hall and Jim McDougall, of the Strath Taieri Hotel, made that same choice last year, taking on a pub for the sake of its community.<\/p>\n
Donna Hall and Jim McDougall acquired the Strath Taieri Hotel outright in August 2025. Photo \/ RNZ, Anisha Satya<\/p>\n
After sitting on the market for a while and failing to renew its liquor licence, the pub closed for five weeks in 2025.<\/p>\n
Locals approached McDougall, who\u2019d run pubs in his past and was \u201cborn and bred in Middlemarch\u201d, to give it a second life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was important to him for the community … if the pub closed there was not much chance of something opening anytime soon, if at all, that could replace the [hotel],\u201d Hall told Country Life.<\/p>\n
This is the pub of choice for Strath Taieri’s young farmers. Photo \/ RNZ, Anisha Satya<\/p>\n
\u201cA commitment that Jim and I made when we bought the pub [was] that we\u2019d be open every day, and that we would have longer hours and we\u2019d be consistent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich often means the staff don\u2019t have a lot to do, but we want to make it a place that people know they can come and get a meal any time of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Situated in hill country an hour from Dunedin, the hotel is a gathering spot for remote farming families, contract shearers and the local Young Farmers club.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe try and support as many community groups as we can through the pub, through sponsorship, you know, and that\u2019s pretty special,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n
What comes around goes around \u2013 when rural publicans support their community, that community will support them back, Janssen said.<\/p>\n
Donna Hall and Jim McDougall outside their pub, the Strath Taieri Hotel. Photo \/ RNZ, Anisha Satya<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ve got people who are outgoing and have a sense of community, they will attract people to the pub.\u201d<\/p>\n
Janssen said while the nature of country pubs may have changed \u2013 food over beer and families alongside mates \u2013 their role in uniting communities remains the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are much more community-minded; they\u2019re serving a better range of drinks, they\u2019re serving a good range of food.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re just much nicer places to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ve got a good country pub and you live in the countryside, support it, because you don\u2019t know what you\u2019ve lost \u2018til it\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Originally from Haryana in India, Kumar recalls being nervous about how locals would react to him acquiring the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[69869,138,2841,6567,424,111,139,69,1118,40123,135332,223],"class_list":["post-634741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-anisha","tag-business","tag-country","tag-evolution","tag-life","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-pub","tag-satya","tag-the"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634741","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=634741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}