Gables facing same fate as other legendary pubs

Developers say the new bar will continue the Gables' quiz and jazz nights. Picture / Richard Robinson

The Gables pub in Herne Bay is facing the wrecker's ball to make way for apartments and a new restaurant and bar.

The 1970s, English-style pub occupies a valuable site on the corner of Jervois Rd and Kelmarna Ave in one of the country's most expensive suburbs. It's packed on Tuesday's quiz night and attracts good audiences on Wednesday's jazz evenings, but is past its "use-by date", say regulars Barry Pettman and Chris Ryan.

"The old English style has had its day, it's a shame but it's time to move on," said Mr Pettman, who has been drinking at the pub for more than 20 years.

The Gables joins other suburban pubs such as The Gluepot in Ponsonby and the Mon Desir on Takapuna Beach, which have been demolished to make way for apartments.

The pub has been bought by a group of developers, including Chris Cook, who demolished a 100-year-old house in March at Marine Parade in Herne Bay to build two homes. A house wrecker convinced an Auckland City Council heritage adviser that it was built after 1950 and demolition did not require resource consent.

The developers plan to demolish the Gables and redevelop the 2345 sq m business-zoned site with 15 upmarket residential units, offices and two retail shops on Jervois Rd.

A new, smaller restaurant and bar will be built on the corner of Jervois Rd and Kelmarna Ave.

One of the developers, Bastiaan Struyck, said the plans were to replace the Gables with a family gastro-style pub and keep features such as the quiz and jazz nights.

"It's a popular and successful business and that's why we want to put it back in [to the development]. It will be somewhere where people can go and watch sport and bring the family in during the week for a meal without it being prohibitively expensive.

"I don't think Herne Bay needs any more wine bars," Struyck said.

It would be a good 18 months before work started on the development, which has been publicly notified this week because it breaches several rules in the district plan.

These include height-to-boundary rules, exceeding a 10m building height by 2.5m on the corner of Jervois Rd and Kelmarna Ave and a shortfall of 18 carparks.

The development would also mean the loss of 10 trees on the site, three plane trees in Jervois Rd and a gum tree in Kelmarna Ave. The four street trees would be replaced with nine titoki trees.

The proposal has been before the council's urban design panel, which supported the mixed-used development, saying the building form and scale recognised the surrounding building zones.

Western Bays Community Board member Kate Stanton, who lives across the road from the Gables in Kelmarna Ave, said it appeared to be a very intensive development and she had reservations about the number of residential units on land zoned business 8.

Copies of the applications can be viewed at the Leys Institute Library in Ponsonby and the Auckland City service centre at 35 Graham St in the city.

Submissions close on June 12.