Royal Oak Hotel

Readers will no doubt be aware that the Royal Oak Hotel, that iconic landmark at Carterton's South End, was recently sold, and is facing a new future.

Like most hotels of the mid to late 1800s era, the hotel has seen a multitude of physical and societal changes in its 160-year history. 

The name of the hotel hails from a popular pub/hotel name in England. Along with The Red Lion and The Crown, The Royal Oak is one of the most popular pub names in the UK. These pubs are named after the oak tree that Prince Charles (later King Charles II) climbed and hid in to escape Oliver Cromwell's Roundheads after the Battle of Worcester in the English Civil War in 1651. 

The history of the building is not well documented, but hotels were many of the early businesses that followed the settler cottages and the Royal Oak was probably the second or third hotel in Carterton, opening its doors to the public in 1865 under Mr Cadwallader and Mr Leach. The Pioneer Hotel, where the Marquis of Normanby stands, was the first hotel in the area soon followed by the Taratahi Hotel, and then, The Royal Oak. 

Up until the 1860s just about any grog shop selling liquor could call itself a hotel and the idea of a hotel providing standards of living better than could be found at home was fairly novel in provincial NZ, up until the later 1800s. But by the standards of even just a few years later, the facilities at the Royal Oak were modest but more than adequate. And by 1872, a licensing report stated that the hotel had seven rooms of which 5 were bedrooms, and it had 6 horse stalls plus paddocks. The Taratahi at this time had only had 2 bedrooms, but the same report offered praise for the Taratahi due to the cheerfulness and efficiency of the landlord.

It was only a few years later, in 1881 that the Liquor Licensing Act stated that hotels must provide at least 6 bedrooms and meals and so the Royal Oak found itself in a better position to meet those conditions than other local establishments. 

Location, Location, Location. If you take a look at the recent sales brochure for the Royal Oak you will have seen that one of the selling points mentioned was that "the property benefits from its proximity to key transport routes". And of course, that is exactly why, in 1865, with its position on the Wellington to Masterton route (now SH2), it was established in the first place. These transport routes were vitally important for hotels and the role that they played in the logistical and social culture of the times.

The first hotels in the Wairarapa were at Lake Ferry and Castlepoint because most traffic went to and from Wellington by sea-with the Castlepoint logistics hub only closing when the route over the Remutaka Hills was opened, with establishments like the Royal Oak being built to cater for this expansion of inland routes. 

So, just as the Castlepoint Hotel became an important, local logistics hub, on a main transport route for seaborne goods and passengers, the Royal Oak easily filled that niche on the new inland route from the capital to Wairarapa.

Horses were just as important as passengers in those days and hotels needed to accommodate their every need to be successful. A fast, efficient stage coach service needed to change horses every 15 miles or so (24 Km), and the Royal Oak was there to accommodate this.

The present car park at the side and back of the hotel was used as stables for the horses, and paddocks at the back served as essential grazing. The stage coach and wagon route became doubly demanding on hotels on election days, as voting rights were based on property. If you owned property in Wellington and Wairarapa, then you could often vote in multiple constituencies and extra coaches and accommodation were provided at these busy times. The voting qualification based on property lasted until universal elections were established in the 1880s. 

​

​

Local and Long Distance Transport 

​

The stage coach services on the main route from Wellington to Masterton was initially provided by William Hastwell. He built his stables in Greytown and his coaches stopped at hotels such as the Royal Oak, which acted as logistics hubs for the outer settlements.

In 1866, a year after the Royal Oak started business, Cobb & Co, an American operator took over the service in Wairarapa and in many parts of New Zealand. The company ran its service in a similar fashion to a franchise, with local men operating the run and William Hastwell continued to operate it on their behalf in Wairarapa. The journey over the Remutakas took around 12 hours and the cost was 10 shillings (about $80 today). The fast coach would set out from Manners Street in Wellington in the early morning and would arrive in Masterton in the evening. - using establishments like the Royal Oak as horse replenishment places and natural breaks for the customers and to connect with local services for freight, post, and passengers. Some coaches on the route used the Cobb & Co stables in Greytown as an overnight stop.

With its beginnings in America, and using the new, smooth running "Concord" stagecoach, Cobb and Co became the Wells Fargo of New Zealand and Australia in its day and continued to operate in the South Island until 1925. The last advertised Cobb & Co stage coach runs were Arrowtown to Queenstown and Arrowtown to Dunedin in February 1925. 

As an aside, the Royal Oak also provided for wagoners and their loads. The wagons that carried logs and other produce to Wellington could take up to a week to do the same journey and with logs heading to Wellington and spirits coming back (mainly rum), it is surprising that the journey was only a week. Many a rider or stagecoach passenger would pass a wagoner fast asleep under his wagon while his oxen or horses grazed peacefully at the trackside. The slow moving, heavily laden wagon crossings were actually quite dangerous in places and it is said that the rum contributed much to the wagoners' courage during the journey.

​

In the pioneering days, hotels were always more than just hotels. By the mid to late 1870s The Royal Oak had become a centre for local social interaction, a centre for parcel and letter collection and a hub for local off main route journeys to outlying settlements. It stayed in this role even after the cessation of the Cobb and Co.

Coach services ceased operations after the arrival of the railway - which reached Carterton in 1880, pulling the centre of gravity of the settlement to the North - and away from the Royal Oak. But there were still many local coach and horse services providing transport to outlying settlements that still needed the essential services of the hotel, which also still catered for local individuals who today would have a car, but then still used horses. And even though the centre of town had moved, and newer establishments opened up in the vicinity of the railway station, there was still a paucity of rooms available and the Royal Oak was still a well-used establishment and services for horses and their owners were still an important facet of the Royal Oak's business. It wasn't until 1913 that one of the local coach services purchased a motor vehicle and until 1922 most of the local cartage was still carried out by six horse wagon teams. 

​

​

Fire 

​

Bush fires, many of them major had always afflicted the Carterton area ever since European settlers first arrived and started felling trees. Hot summers and tinder dry bush that grew up in place of felled trees, together with wooden buildings, all lent support to potential disaster. In 1872, The Royal Oak survived two major fires. One started in bush near the hotel and swept North, and only the best efforts of all those present - probably desperate to save their drinking establishment, saved the hotel. The fire swept north up to Belvedere Road destroying many houses and firms. One house owner, seeing his house about to go up in flames, dug a hole in the garden, filled it with water and placed in it the family bible and several other family treasures brought out from England. The fire was so persistent that he was unable to retrieve the items for 7 days, and even then, the bible was scorched. Another fire during the same period started in the area of what is now the railway station, swept up Belvedere Road and then moved down towards the Royal Oak. Again, those present starred in the drama and saved the hotel. That particular fire also moved North and took out some of Booths wood mill, and a private school run by a Mr Scott. The gentleman was so horrified by events, that he immediately gave up the pioneer life and fled to Sydney. 

​

The Royal Oak and other hotels in the area formed an integral part of society and became the glue that held emerging societies together. The Royal Oak functioned as the local's logistics centre for post office services. Auction sales were held here, and it was the mid-point for a local Masterton cycling club, as the journey to the hotel and back was exactly 20 miles.

During the World War 1, when the army took over the Carterton Showgrounds, the pub landlord provided a rugby pitch and changing rooms on land behind the pub. And no doubt the landlord profited well from this transaction with 30 thirsty players, hangers on and spectators all needing post-match refreshment!

​

​

The Coroner's Court 

​

In many western movies, courts and coroners often set up in bars and hotels to mete out justice and settle affairs, and this sort of thing happened right here in Carterton. One such example of a coroner's court held in the Royal Oak is well documented and contributed to a result that we still feel today. In 1879, a coroner's inquest was set up in the hotel to investigate the death of a Mr George McPartland who had died a few days earlier. Mr William Booth was appointed foreman and having sworn in his jury in the Royal Oak, he, with the jury went off to the house of the deceased to inspect the body. 

Various witnesses, both family and others were called and it transpired that on the day of his death, Mr McPartland (aged 63) had retrieved and fixed his cart and called into the Oak and sampled 4 Hennessey's brandies. These would not have been the tiny liquor measures of today that can hardly be seen with the naked eye, but more like a small tumbler filled to the top. So, he had imbibed a reasonable amount of liquor, but there was more to come. He then went home but returned later and had another 5 brandies. With help, he then managed to mount his horse with his brother-in-law leading him home. By this time, he was unable to dismount and unable to speak, he had to be carried in to the house where he lay on the sofa to sleep it off. Unfortunately, while asleep, his wife found that he had died. The court pronounced him dead of a heart attack and with that official verdict was a rider that said that publicans "should not serve intoxicants to anyone who showed signs of having had too much alcohol that day." And 2 years later in 1881, the new liquor licensing act that replaced nearly 50 national and regional statutes, provided (among other things) for penalties to landlords for serving intoxicated people, and now of course you see that sign in just about every pub in NZ. So, the Royal Oak played its small part in advancing drink legislation that survives today.

​

​

The Modern Age

But when did the hotel change its façade from the original rather lovely old building to the new? The Times Age reported on 2 December 1943 that 'extensive additions were being made to the hotel', and it is believed that this is the time when the old façade was changed over to the new and the hotel expanded. Why it was carried out in the middle of a war is difficult to determine and there are few records as to the decision, but moving into the 50s and 60s, the Royal Oak, like many such establishments was seeing many changes, particularly in clientele, and hotel use. These changes were brought about by huge social and mobility changes in New Zealand including the rapid rise of mechanised transport - both train, omnibus, and the motor car. The liquor licencing Acts, followed these changes with changes of their own, all designed to improve conditions and place a greater control on drinking, but of course as often happens with new laws, there can be unintended consequences. The 1881 Act had required public houses selling liquor to provide meals and at least six bedrooms for travellers. In other words, if you wanted to serve alcohol, you needed to provide rooms and this was to have an effect on the hotel trade moving forward. In 1917, a wartime measure directed that drinking must cease by 6 pm. This was confirmed after the war in 1918 and it opened the way for the legendary '6 O'clock Swill'.

​

With the need for accommodation gradually declining in the 1960s, it would seem advantageous for the Royal Oak to take advantage of a new law enacted in 1963 saying that hotels need not provide rooms and could become just taverns, thus saving the time and expense of putting up the fast diminishing provincial accommodation trade. But this new law was little used by the Royal Oak (and other hotels) because pretending to have guests, and advertising for guests enabled them to get around the 6 O'clock closing time. So, we still see in the Times Age of the period, hotels such as the Oak, were still advertising and still (supposedly) providing accommodation. Finally, in 1967, early closing ended, and all pretence was forgotten and the Royal Oak's main business changed gradually into that of a pub selling liquor and other bar services, rather than hotel services. This was a timely measure for hotels like the Royal Oak because with the huge changes in society and transport facilities, the accommodation trade was diminishing at an ever-increasing rate. By 1969, the Liquor Licensing Authority reported that half the hotels in the country played 'an insignificant part or no part at all in the accommodation of travellers and that many thousands of hotel rooms were simply never used.' The Royal Oak was forced to react to the changing conditions and eight years later, in 1976, ceased to offer accommodation, changing its status to a tavern.

​

So, the Royal Oak, which was built to the size of a hotel, became more of a pub, selling drinks and snacks, And in this guise it changed from needing to attract travellers (although they were still welcome up until 1976), to relying more on a local pub clientele - and this perhaps is where distance from the centre of town could have been at least a slight advantage for a while. With the advent of drink drive regulations, it became an attractive proposition for local punters with no competition in the immediate vicinity. With the rise of the 'motel', and Carterton and Masterton more accessible with the modern motor car, most travellers by this time would stay in motels in town, nearer to other facilities such as businesses and restaurants, and with the changing times and with more convenient accommodation available in town, the change to tavern status was inevitable. 

​

The Royal Oak has witnessed immense changes in the many facets of structural and societal life of Carterton and the Greater Wellington region, and has even changed its face to the world with its 40s change in architecture.

Memories fade over time, but in its heyday, the hotel played a huge part in the development of Carterton and the wider Wairarapa society, and it would be a pity if this important contribution to provincial life faded, unnoticed, into history. Now it is set for more changes with a change of ownership and exciting plans afoot. How that will pan out will set the scene for this classic old hotel for many years to come.