01/10/2026
This month’s Historical Insights and Curiosities, a monthly feature of history snippets researched and written by NHS member Yolanda Persico, introduces us to the story of a colourful hotel located in what used to be known as ‘Suburban North’, which included what we know today as Atawhai, Marybank, Wakapuaka, and Todd's Valley.
The earliest centre for social gatherings in the area of Nelson known as Suburban North, was the Black Bull Inn, standing about 11km north of the township, between a flax swamp and the sea. The inn was rumoured to be the haunt of the local ‘lads’, a place for fist-fighting, cock-fighting, horse races on the nearby sand flats and whatever other activities they were inclined to get up to when under the influence of ale! There is no mention of it coming into being until 1847 when a license was granted ‘to provide a two-stalled stable, and two rooms for travellers to rest.’
The inn survived for the next 10 years as the hospitality centre of the district, a venue for meetings, harvest celebrations, elections, cricket and ploughing matches, horse races and dinners. The first legal title to the land was granted in 1851 and five years later in 1856 it became the property of the brewers Hooper & Dodson. After this it disappeared, its fate unrecorded. It could have burnt down but it is likely that a more substantial building was required.
In its place rose the Black Horse Hotel, a gabled two-storey building, consisting of two bedrooms for travellers, a dining room, a tap room, and sold spirits, w**e and b**r. A two-stalled stable and a stockyard for cattle were necessary under the terms of the license. The Black Horse Hotel was built for the brewers by William Wastney, who became its first publican from 1856-1861. William was followed by a string of publicans, each application for the licence having to be made in writing to the Provincial Superintendent, supported by numerous local signatories.
For the next 100 years the Black Horse Hotel was the hub of the area, used for dinners, election meetings, post-race functions for the race meetings held on the nearby Wakapuaka race course, and also serving the cricketers whose matches were played nearby. After the stock sales in the adjacent stockyards, it was also a convenient watering-hole. Several times over the years inquests were even held at the hotel.
It was no doubt visited by many inner-city Nelsonians, judging by the number of advertisements inserted in local newspapers over the years for items lost between the Black Horse Hotel and a town site. It became a landmark on the main road to Blenheim, well known for its sign - Last Hotel for 38 miles.
But, on 8 May 1958 at 11.20 pm a fire broke out and quickly raged through the old wooden building. Despite the efforts of the Nelson and Stoke fire engines it was a total loss within two hours. At the time the hotel, with 11 rooms and a bar, was described as a two-storeyed wooden building with an attractive old-world air, a rustic b**r garden and a prancing horse sign outside. In its wake, a temporary bar was set up in an unaffected, detached store shed on the property.
The following year the property and temporary bar were put up for auction. As the existing licensing laws required a large building to replace the old, the hotel was never rebuilt and the licence transferred elsewhere.
Photo Credit: Black Horse Hotel, Wakapuaka Nelson, Muir Moodie Postcard, Ken Wright Postcard Collection.
