One of the oldest pubs in the district — pouring drinks on State Highway 16 through gumdiggers, orchardists and more than 140 years of Kumeū life.
Constructed by the Deacon family, the Huapai Tavern was originally called the Kumeu Hotel. By 1883 it had become the White Horse Hotel, later the Huapai Hotel, and finally the Huapai Tavern we know today.
The tavern was a gathering place for gumdiggers working the local fields. After back-breaking, cold and wet days on the gum, a drink warmed the body and loosened the mood — and drinking together built the friendships and sense of community that held the gum field together.
Orchard life in Huapai was promoted as "a beautiful art as well as a most profitable industry." Those tiring of the strenuous life of the cities were enticed to the country to "live the only real natural life amidst green fields and leafy trees."
From 1921, the Kumeu Show was the major event of the summer. With most residents still travelling by horse and cart, the sight of so many cars heading to Muriwai was an event in itself. Decked with flags, the Huapai Hotel — the only pub between Henderson and Helensville — was a natural refreshment stop.
Kumeū and Huapai could still barely be called villages — a scatter of stores, post offices, halls and the Huapai Hotel along miles of road. Publican Alexander Burr bought a nine-seater service car and ran passengers door-to-door into Auckland. Trips were unpredictable: asked once to slow down, he agreed only on the condition a passenger keep singing — the moment she stopped, he sped up again.
After the war, central Huapai and Kumeū began to develop. The Huapai sawmill opened in December 1948, and Wally Reber's rapidly expanding transport business helped drive the area's commercialisation through the 1950s — carting fruit, calves, feed, manure and lime to and from farms with the seasons.
By the 1960s the area was a job centre in its own right, drawing people to its factories, offices, vineyards and orchards. Through the 1970s, commercial growth merged Kumeū and Huapai into a single town. Under Jim Herring's ownership, the Tavern built a new 1,200-square-foot lounge bar to handle its growing crowd.
Source: Doing it Themselves: the Story of Kumeu, Huapai and Taupaki by Deborah Dunsford, 2002.
Drop in for a drink and a feed — you're always welcome at the Tavern.
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