Three Mile Hotel north of Hokitika - Burnt down in the 1950's.

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DescriptionI am sharing this image of the Three Mile Hotel passed on to me by a friend who got a copy of the original from the Hokitika Museum.
This hotel was on the inland side of the main road a bit north of Hokitika opposite the small "Three Mile" sawmill that has now gone. This hotel was burnt down in the 1950's. A former neighbour of the hotel has told me he believes it was an arson perpetrated by the then proprietor "Brasso" Burns.
The first "Three Mile Hotel" was built back in gold rush days circa the late 1860's by William Larke after, whom I presume, nearby Larke's Terrace was named.
Glenn Johnston
I see from old newspaper & licensing info that there have been different hotel names. Firstly in 1868 there is mention of a Miners Rest Hotel at Three Mile Creek owned by William Larke. An 1874 application for license renewal is for Larke's Hotel, Three Mile. However in 1882 it is John Keoghan applying for a renewal of the license of the Three Mile Hotel. It is highly likely that there have been at least two and maybe three "Three Mile Hotel" buildings in the same general area. To me the thread starter photo building looks to date from the 1890 - 1910 period and is unlikely to not be within or more than a decade outside this period. The Keoghan name is commemorated in the area by Keoghan's Road.PhotographerUnknown Last edited by: Glenn Johnston

Map^[1]ContributorGlenn Johnston

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Location (city or town)HokitikaLandmark (Place)Three Mile Hotel Organisation (eg business)Three Mile Hotel

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Category TagHotels

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Date Created17th July 2023CommentsArthur Bass
A lot of West Coast Pubs went the same way.

John Rosanowski
Arthur Bass Yes, Arthur. And it's funny how the proprietor was often away in ChCh on those weekends.

Arthur Bass
John Rosanowski , All Blacks games probably ?

Glenn Johnston
John Rosanowski Some times just after a visit from the Licensing Commission or shortly before when one was scheduled to occur.

Dorothy Wills
Glen Johnston what did Brasso Burns look like do you know? There was a Brasso Burns was a roadmap in Maruia when I was a child, I was friends with 2 of his children Heather and Ross. They lived in a house adjacent to the Maruia School, would have been about 1954-55

Glenn Johnston
Dorothy Wills I don't know what he looked like but I could ask my source, a former near neighbour, who remembers him.

Dorothy Wills
Glenn Johnston thank you I was just curious if it was the same person, it’s an unusual name

Glenn Johnston
The late Val Finch nee McGill told me that in her early years she worked as a barmaid at this pub.
Dawn N Jack Fearn
I remember that hotel when I was a young girl and lived in Three Mile. There was a tennis court just over from it.

Ron McPherson
Edward S. Clark, my g g grandfather was licensee of Larke's Hotel at Three Mile in 1881. In the 1870's he had the Cosmopolitan Hotel on Revell Street, Hokitika.

Glenn Johnston
I see from old licensing info that this hotel was initially named "Larke's Hotel" after the proprietor rather than the "Three Mile Hotel" as named in this photo. The 1874 application for renewal is for Larke's Hotel, Three Mile however in 1882 it is John Keoghan applying for a renewal of the license for the Three Mile Hotel. The Keoghan name is commemorated in the area by Keoghan's Road.

Kaye'Mike Finch
I was told by my father Ted Finch that sometime around late 40s he brought the old pub so he could recycle some of the material for a shed at Kaihinu were he lived.

Tom Barker
Could it be the original hotel was building in back rather than front? The building at back is more consistent with an older style with no eaves and 12 pane windows.

Glenn Johnston
Maybe the building at the back was the stables?

Glenn Johnston
Further to a start date for the earliest pub in this vicinity I see in Papers Past WCT for the 29th of April 1868 that William Larke deposed, "that he keeps the Miners Rest Hotel at the Three Mile Creek." So now we have three different names for hotels at Three Mile with the first two associated with William Larke. I agree with others who have intimated that there may have been more than one building serving as a hotel at Three Mile between the late 1860's and the 1950's. The photo in the thread starter is unlikely to be the same building that was the Miners Rest Hotel of 1868 or the Larke's Hotel which is the name used for the Three Mile Hotel until 1882. The hotel in this photo looks typical of an 1890 - 1910 building IMO and is unlikely to date within or no more than a decade outside this date range.

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Three Mile Hotel north of Hokitika - Burnt down in the 1950's.

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