Last calls at the Railway Tavern

We lived behind the Railway Hotel in the 60s - and it was always noisy - 6 o'clock closing in those days. RIP Railway Hotel. Last calls at the Railway Tavern PETRA FINER Last updated 05:00 18/10/2014 A century of pulling-beers will end today as an old Hawera watering hole closes for the final time. The 133-year-old Railway Tavern has been sold, taking it out of the hands of the McLeod family for the first time in 100 years. Tavern manager Alison Judkins said some very teary-eyed customers had crossed the pub's doorway during the last week of trading. "It's like a big family splitting up, they'll all be going in different directions. It's been a real meeting place for the elderly," she said. Peter McGlinchey has visited the establishment three times a week for more than five years. He said many a world issue had been solved over a beer and a chat. "I renamed this place the ‘house of knowledge'," he said. "If somebody has a problem, they come in and tell someone and it's not just their problem anymore." Tavern owner Mary McLeod, Wellington, said it was an emotional time. "I feel the responsibility of closing a business that has been in the family so long," she said. "I just think it is the end of an era not for me personally but for hotels as they used to be and no longer are." McLeod's grandfather John Comber Harrington bought the hotel in 1913 after inheriting half a million pounds. He died in 1924 and his wife took over until her death in 1947. Their son Jack took over until 2007, changing it from a hotel to a tavern. It has had 15 owners. The tavern is holding a last hurrah today and will host a cash-and-carry chattel auction on Wednesday, October 22. The facility's new owner, Hawera's Roydon Collingwood, was not prepared to say what was next for the building. http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/10632148/Last-calls-at-the-Railway-Tavern