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When news of the Waikaka Royal Hotel’s sale came to a group of locals, they enacted a plan that had long been in the making.
The eastern Southland hotel has been a beloved institution for over a century - in 2018, it celebrated its 150th year of operations (though some locals claim the pub is yet a few years older).
Local contractor Jason ‘Tooth’ Cleland, one of the six new directors of the Waikaka Hotel Enhancement Company, said the pub had been his watering hole for about 30 years, or, “Since I started drinking, really.”
“You always go back down to your local and have a yarn to everyone about what’s going on in the district. And the rugby club’s just across the road, so we’ve spent a bit of time over there as well.”
When it was announced the former owners would be shutting up shop in order to spend more time with family elsewhere in the country, Cleland said a group of mates enacted a plan that was first floated about a decade ago - and the Waikaka Hotel Enhancement Group was born.
“It’s such a great community here when it comes together. If there’s any fundraising or any local dog trials or anything like that, they all pitch in and help out. So it’s a great wee community,” said Cleland.
The eastern Southland town had a population of 1560 at the 2018 census. Image / Google
The company has six directors, all mates and local to the area (save for one who had just moved from Brisbane and was keen to get involved in the community off the bat), and six committee members.
Right after its formation, the group quickly began raising funds to make a deposit on the hotel - last week, they successfully reached that benchmark.
Now leading from the agreed purchase date of December 15, the Waikaka Hotel Enhancement Group are selling shares at $1000 per share and seeking community support to hit the final touchstone, as well as finding potential managers and lessee’s.
“There’s been a lot of red tape to push through to get to this stage, so that’s pretty awesome,” said Cleland.
“And we’ve got the community behind us, so that’s a big thing.”
The major challenges facing the company were largely in the rear-view, and they were now focusing solely on selling shares to make the deposit and finding people keen to work the bar.
“If we’ve got to help out (behind the bar), we’ll help out - it all comes down to the drinkers anyway.”
Despite the change of ownership, punters wouldn’t have to worry about there locale changing shape as the group planned to keep it as is - though Cleland said they hoped to introduce a shop to the hotel at some point in the next year.
“That’d be just wee things that you’d buy from the local super market, because we haven’t got a shop in Waikaka anymore.”
Not lacking in experience, of the six directors, five had previously held liquor licenses and a few of them had run the bar at the rugby club in the past, Cleland said.
“But we’re not wanting to run it our selves, we want to put someone in there that’s prepared to run it themselves at a reasonable lease. So there’s an opportunity for somebody.”
At the last census, the rural Southland town was recorded having a population of 1560 people.
