Modern Building Soon To Replace Linkwater Hotel
New Zealand stands to lose al quaint tourist attraction with the forthcoming demolition of the miniature Linkwater Hotel, near Picton, known in the district as “The Smallest Hotel in the World.” With a total floor area less than the size of an average living room the Linkwater Hotel is soon to be replaced with a modern structure at the Grove about two and a half miles away. Possessing a bar only fifteen feet wide, the Linkwater was an outbuilding of the historic 100-year-old original hotel destroyed by fire last year. Now with its thick and natural setting of ancient foliage, the present Linkwater has all the aspects of an early pioneer establishment. The building itself is nearing the century mark. Partly obscured by big laurel trees and native creepers the miniature hotel whets both the thirst and curiosity of passing tourists who provide most of the present trade. Drinking space is so small that a familiar call is “Elbows in, gentlemen, please,” from the bar manager, George Melville, when “rush hour” business taxes the capacity of the premises. In its hey-day the Linkwater Hotel and three other local hotels also destroyed by fire, catered for thirsty goldminers who won a reputed £1,000,000 worth of gold from the nearby King Solomon’s mine. Gold dust which those miners plonked down on the bar counter while waiting for drinks fell through cracks in the floor-boards over the years. More than £6O worth of this gold dust was recovered from the ground where the old bar had
I stood when the original Linkwater Hotel was burned down. I Saddest person about the coming closing of the hotel is Mr Daniel Gilchrist, aged 76, of nearby Mahakipawa Valley, former licensee for 17 years, who still calls in for a daily drink. Linkwater, which boasted some thousands of people in the gold rush days of 1884 is now a sleepy village of about 100 inhabitants. Linkwater Valley was so named because it links the headwaters of Queen Charlottee and Pelorus Sounds.
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Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28264, 30 April 1957, Page 16
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342Modern Building Soon To Replace Linkwater Hotel Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28264, 30 April 1957, Page 16
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