New and approved: Hamilton Hotel Public Bar & Bistro, Hamilton

The useful part

In a mercifully straightforward bit of branding, it's called the Hamilton Hotel Public Bar & Bistro. No surprise then that walking in the elaborately tiled front door presents you with just two options: a right turn into the bistro or a left turn into the public bar. On Sundays the swanky bistro is closed and they do a roast in the public bar, which is what drew me in.

How it works

• It's at 170 Victoria Street, occupying most of the streetfront of the long-awaited BNZ Theatre.
• Hamilton Hotel's tagline is "Waiting on you since 1865" – there's been a hotel on this spot since then, but the first one burned down and the second one did too.
• The third incarnation – built in stone and brick in 1923 – nearly burned down during a production of Hamlet in 1992, but it was saved by the two actors playing the gravediggers.
• Only the facade was retained in this current redevelopment but the Hamilton Hotel's design pays sensitive homage to some sweet details that recall the building's long history.

Details worth keeping

Who doesn't love a single-option, no-swapsies Sunday roast? Kirikiriroa needed a new theatre after Founders Theatre closed in 2016 and it's finally arrived, bringing with it four new hospo venues: to Hamilton Hotel there's also Four Daughters (sandos, natural wine, beers), Birdman (a cosy upstairs cocktail haunt), and a relocated version of the universally adored bar Wonder Horse. Nowadays you get to the Public Bar via the very public streetfront e...