Old cellar found but sadly no whiskey

Demolition worker Mark Purdon checks out the cellar. PICTURE/DEBBIE BEADLE

Demolition workers at the old Kaikohe Hotel have discovered a long-forgotten cellar under the floorboards - but hopes of finding a stash of vintage whiskey have been dashed.

Local firm Rintoul Civil is slowly dismantling what was once one of Northland's largest and grandest hotels. All that remains now is the shell and floor of the original 1894 building.

While removing the restaurant floor workers found a cellar also thought to date back 120 years. The find sparked keen interest in case the cellar contained an old bottle of rum or a barrel of whiskey.

All they found, however, was a penny, an old shoe, part of a whiskey barrel and a pile of bricks used to fill in the hole where the stairs used to be.

The cellar walls are made of plaster with walls sloping on a roughly 15-degree angle. It was thought the cellar would have outside when the pub was first built, accessed via a bolted trapdoor.

The workers are anticipating more intriguing finds as the rest of the floor is removed over coming weeks.