Kaikohe RSA hopes to lease its bar back

The Kaikohe RSA is due to be sold at auction on November 1, but might yet become home to the association again. Picture / Aerial Vision

The Kaikohe RSA is hoping to lease part of the sprawling complex it has been forced to sell for a members' bar when its land and buildings are go under the hammer next month.

The old soldiers' club closed on June 30, a victim of falling membership and soaring costs, particularly rates, insurance and maintenance. The complex, two buildings totalling 1280sq m and just under 1.5ha of commercially-zoned land on upper Broadway, was also far bigger than the organisation required.

It is due to be sold at auction at the Harcourts Kerikeri office on November 1.

Former Kaikohe RSA vice-president Geoff Smith said potential buyers were in discussions with the real estate agent, but he did not know who they were or what plans they had for the site.

"There's been a bit of interest, so we're hoping for a positive result," he said. The organisation was also hoping that whoever bought the property would agree to lease the members' bar area back to the RSA. If that didn't happen out the association would look for smaller premises elsewhere in Kaikohe.

Kaikohe was the second in Far North RSA to concede defeat to dwindling membership and rising costs. The last pint was pulled at the Kerikeri club on April 26, the day after its final Anzac Day ceremony.

Meanwhile, former Kaikohe artist Chris Wilkie has expressed concern about the fate of a series of murals he painted and donated to the Kaikohe RSA. The murals, depicting New Zealand soldiers and nurses in action in various conflicts around the globe, adorn the wall around the garden bar.

Mr Wilkie's worries about what might happen to them have been heightened by the disappearance of several murals he created with Northland College students in the walkway to Marino Place.

Mr Smith said the murals would stay if the RSA was able to lease the bar. Otherwise he was hoping for a 90-day settlement to give members time to work out what to do with the large amount of military memorabilia, photos and honours boards in the bar, as well as the big guns and murals outside.