Sharron Minett (left) is Steve Lawson's second in command at Whanganui's Commercial Hotel. Photo / Laurel Stowell
Sharron Minett (left) is Steve Lawson's second in command at Whanganui's Commercial Hotel. Photo / Laurel Stowell
The new leasee of Whanganui's Commercial Hotel wants to use it to its full potential while keeping its old-style atmosphere.
"This is the last of the old-style pubs where a tradie or a farmer can come in with his singlet on and get a jug, and that's not going to change," Steve Lawson said.
He took over the business on October 7 from former leasee of nine years, Averyl Kahukaka.
The hotel's opening hours are on the door but Lawson says he'll continue to close up when the last customer leaves.
Lawson is 67 and had worked in the boning room at Affco's Imlay meatworks for the previous seven years. He was looking for a way to retire and thinks the hotel will be "a nice little earner" in his old age.
When he took over, it had several long-term upstairs tenants but, apart from their rent, the public bar was the only part earning income. The building was rundown, with leaks in some of the rooms and repairs needed.
He plans to live in a self-contained two-bedroom flat upstairs. He will renovate and rent out the rest of the nine rooms, which have access to a shared kitchen and bathrooms.
Rental accommodation is short in Whanganui and Lawson's had people, including UCOL students, asking for rooms.
He'd also like to upgrade the lounge bar and garden bar, and improve an unused downstairs kitchen until it can be leased out as a commercial kitchen.
An unused kitchen is to be refurbished and leased out as a commercial kitchen. Photo / Laurel Stowell
The first time he saw the kitchen it had a motorbike parked in the middle, possibly left by Kahukaka's self-described "caretaker from hell", Craig "Frog" Falconer.
The hotel now has three staff, including Lawson's second in command Sharron Minett. He's getting used to not having to get up for work every day, and plans to gradually drag the place into the 21st century.
He would consider buying the building from its Auckland owner. His advice, from Whanganui and Partners business development strategic lead Rhonda Morris, is that the old-style pub is "sitting on a gold mine".
He reckons he's already won over the pub's previous regulars, who loved the hāngi put down in the garden bar last weekend.
"The die-hards are still here and word on the street is they're very happy with me," he said.
