Hotel with a touch of class and a sly glass

Roedean Hotel catered to the famous, even if they had to sneak a drink. ARNOLD PICKMERE recalls the grand days of a guest house.

The length of wrought-iron railing leaning temporarily against Herb and Margaret Tremain's hedge in Glen Innes has the letter R fixed into its pattern.

It will soon be all that is left of a little piece of Auckland's history - the Roedean private hotel in St Stephens Ave, Parnell, refuge of the rich and famous from 1947 to 1966.

The building is being demolished to make way for apartments.

Through Roedean's portals came musicians Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, pianist Winifred Atwell and British racing driver Stirling Moss ("He would never stay anywhere else," says Mrs Tremain.)

Actor Sir Ralph Richardson stayed, as did pop stars Chubby Checker and Gene Pitney.

Even Thomas Dewey, Governor of New York state.

Mr Tremain's father, Victor, owned the grand old kauri building from 1947 but he died in 1953 and his son took over the hotel, which was sometimes described as a guest house.

That was the year United States Vice-President Richard Nixon stayed a few nights.

"There were security men all through the area down below us," says Mrs Tremain.

Roedean, apparently named after the famous school in England, was right next to the Evelyn Firth War Veterans' Home, which had a magnificent site set on sweeping lawns overlooking the harbour, Parnell Baths and Judges Bay.

The White Heron hotel was later built on the site.

Roedean never had room for more than 25 guests, although it also used a house at 1 Judge St as an annexe.

The top guests stayed in the beautifully furnished and appointed suite on the top storey (including a lounge with great views) for the princely sum in the early 1960s of £12 ($24) a night.

"We believed in giving people service, with beautiful furnishings and silver service before any of the hotels that are around these days," says Mrs Tremain.

In the 1950s unemployment was negligible and staff were hard to find - "you just could not get good staff."

The hotel had a live-in chef, a waitress and a housemaid.

Mrs Tremain did a lot of work in the kitchen, as well as coping with a family of four born and raised at the hotel.

But Roedean had one strange feature that would never occur today. Despite hosting all those famous people, it did not have a liquor licence until 1994.

The liquor licensing laws until the early 1960s may be hard to believe now.

Hotels closed at 6 o'clock, after which only the house bar was open for staying guests.

No barmaids; no licensed restaurants; rules and regulation on accommodation and prices; dry areas still in many localities.

Hotel guests who arrived after 7 pm were often greeted with the news that "dinner's off". If the staff were in a good mood, "I could probably get you a sandwich."

But not at the Roedean.

Good service to Mr Tremain meant picking people up from the airport - then at Whenuapai - at 2 am if necessary. If they had to eat late, "they would get whatever meal they thought they were due for."

As a consequence the Tremains worked 16 hours a day.

"It was a family home, a friendly place," says Mrs Tremain, who was raised in Christchurch and now, like her husband, is in her late seventies.

"And the classier the people, the nicer they were. They weren't demanding. Just very nice people."

Roedean was a respectable hotel, with respectable guests, in a quiet neighbourhood.

And one which, without a licence, offered its guests a drinks service and wine with their meals.

They never had trouble with the law, not least because Mr Tremain had, as he puts it, played footy in his young days with the police sergeant at Parnell.

Diners would bring their own wine to a meal out and hide the bottles under the table.

In late 1961, four Auckland restaurants out of nine nationwide were granted the first liquor licences.

The first restaurant to serve wine legally was the Gourmet in Shortland St.

The Tremains obtained a tourist house liquor licence in 1964 and Roedean became one of the most popular wine-and-dine places in the city.

But times were changing and when Sir Robert Kerridge built the then stylish - now closed - White Heron next door, the Tremains sold up and Sir Robert turned the building into a conference centre.

Now it has gone.

The Tremains sold in 1966 for $16,000 and sent the furniture and floor coverings for auction.

The kauri salvaged from the building this week is likely to fetch many times that.