The claim
The social heart of the small village of Puhoi, north of Auckland, this pub was licensed in 1879 as the German Hotel, a nod to the Bohemian settlers of the valley. Heritage New Zealand lists the hotel and its stables as a category 2 historic place, and the village around it sits in a historic zone drawn in 1976. It opens daily to locals and day-trippers, and calls what it serves the classic style of Kiwi hospitality.
What the records show
The hotel first took a permanent liquor licence in 1879, when it was called the German Hotel, a nod to the Bohemian and German-speaking settlers of the valley; Wikipedia records the year and the north Auckland paper Local Matters names the licensee, John Schollum. The same paper adds something no other account here carried: a watering hole of a sort existed six years earlier, when an Irishman, Andrew Meaney, took a bush licence to sell liquor from a shanty here in about 1873. The name changed to the Puhoi Hotel around the First World War. The hotel and its stables are entered on the New Zealand Heritage List as a category 2 historic place, number 497, listed on 25 November 1982; the entry is a short one and carries no history or construction date, so the age of the building is still not established. The village around the pub sits in the Puhoi Historic Village Zone created in 1976. The pub opens daily, from eleven in the morning Monday to Thursday and from ten on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, at 5 Saleyards Road.
| Year | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1879 | Claimed founding | The pub |
| 1879 | First record of a drinking house here | Local Matters, which names the 1879 licensee John Schollum |
What to look for inside
- Licensed 1879 as the German Hotel
- In the Puhoi Historic Village Zone (1976)
Visiting
Puhoi Pub & Hotel is in Puhoi, New Zealand, at 5 Saleyards Road, Puhoi 0951. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puhoi
- www.puhoipub.com/
- www.heritage.org.nz/list-details/497/497
- www.localmatters.co.nz/news/last-round-for-puhoi-publican/
Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
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