Royal’s ghost still plays a tune or two
The horse-drawn carts outside are long gone, as are many of the characters who have shared stories over a pint at its various bars.
Deep in the heart of rural eastern Southland, Waikaka’s Royal Hotel remains stoic in the town’s quiet main street.
The grand old pub celebrates her 150th birthday this weekend, and publican Gayle-Anne Traill said locals were gathering to remember the stories of a small country town growing up.
There are definitely some yarns to be told. ‘‘We’ve had quite a few people come in and say they had their first drink here – when they were 15. The police would come in and they would all hide in the toilet.
‘‘There’s an old 80-year-old came in to tell us he painted the old pub when he was doing his apprenticeship, and a couple that got married in the hall across the road and had their honeymoon here, so the double room upstairs is called the Honeymoon Suite.’’
The Royal Hotel was originally near the town’s golf course but it was later relocated to its present site in the main street.
‘‘That would have been interesting to see. Some time later they put another storey on it but they didn’t do any work on the piles underneath so now she’s on a bit of a lean.’’
Traill isn’t sure if it was the Corcorans, the Lambs or the Edges who built the pub but they have all owned it at some stage, and sold it to each other from time to time.
The last Corcoran to own it, Wattie, died last year.
The pub was legendary in Gore’s prohibition days. Being outside the town boundary, many used to travel to Waikaka to drink.
Corcoran used to have an illegal bottle store in Gore and would get the local transport to deliver alcohol to his clients, Traill said.
His presence is still known in his old watering hole.
‘‘The day he died the jukebox turned itself on and began playing random songs. It still happens from time to time so we say Wattie lives in there.’’
His old mate, a local affectionately known as Sandfly, is thought to haunt the basement. Another Corcoran, Mary, is said to visit the upstairs bedrooms, but there are memories of her in the kitchen, where her recipe box and a handwritten menu remain.
Lemon salmon, pickled pork and pineapple, lettuce leaves with jellied beetroot and sweet and sour pork on rice all featured on Mary’s buffet menu, and for supper, Welsh rarebit, bread and butter and scotch eggs were served.
Marilyn Windle was at a morning tea to celebrate the pub’s birthday yesterday and remembers Mary’s meals fondly.
‘‘She used to cook good plain meals and she had fabulous buffets and salads.
‘‘When the Romney Ram Fair was on, she used to cook 100 meals.’’
Helen Bowen worked at the hotel in the 1970s and remembers the bar being packed.
‘‘We cooked three hams and five turkeys one night, all on a coal range. That was before we had dishwashers and Eileen used to do all the dishes by hand.’’
A new lounge bar was added to the hotel in the 1970s but a sign above the door hints at its past – allowing only ladies with their escorts.
The former bars and dining rooms are now used for storage, while the upstairs accommodation is now listed on Airbnb.
Drink-driving laws and red tape have taken their toll and pub life is quieter now, but it’s still the locals that keep the pub running as they come in to talk about their day, Traill says.
‘‘A lot of the farmers sit in tractors all day and don’t talk to anyone so they come in here and realise that everyone else is having the same problems that they are.’’
Roy the pub dog, aptly named after the Royal Hotel, often lends a keen ear.
‘‘It’s the same as any small town – if the pub hasn’t heard about it, it hasn’t happened.’’