A fire that engulfed Ngāruwāhia's historic Waipā Tavern early Sunday morning has caused so much damage that the mayor says it will have to be demolished, starting with the top floor and veranda being pulled down on Sunday afternoon.

The loss of the building is causing great sadness amongst locals who have a lifetime of memories of the tavern and the late former owner.

The demolition of the 100-year-old building, on State Highway 1 at the northern end of the town, is due to start on Sunday afternoon as soon as fire investigators and Police have completed their investigations.

Don Jacobs, who lives across the road says the fire must have started about 1.30am.

The fire engulfed the historic building very quickly. Photo: Don Jacobs.

'I heard the noise and thought it was the rubbish man outside so I ignored it,” says Don. 'But then it persisted so I looked outside and saw it alight.”

He immediately rang the fire brigade.

'While on the phone I heard the alarm going off so someone must have beaten me to it. We have a volunteer fire brigade here in Ngāruwāhia but obviously with a two-storey building they had no way of getting to the second floor.”

He says within 20 minutes the building was fully alight, with fire trucks and fire fighters at the scene.

Fire Emergency NZ shift manager Josh Pennefather says they received multiple calls about 2am on Sunday.

'Unfortunately this was the Waipā Tavern, and the fire was well involved when we arrived,” says Josh. He says the fire was 80m by 40m and blazing through two storeys.

'We had five fire trucks that attended, two ladder trucks and a couple of support vehicles.”

Josh says the fire trucks were at the scene for about two-and-a-half hours, and were able to contain the fire to that building.

The scene on Sunday morning, with fire fighters remaining to damp down any hot spots. Photo: Don Jacobs.

Jesmond Road and Great South Road were closed, as the public house is located on the corner of the intersection of the two roads. They remained closed through to Sunday afternoon, as FENZ were still in attendance.

'It hasn't been completely extinguished,” says Josh. 'We're still looking for hot spots, to stop any fire flaring up.”

The fire also resulted in the rail corridor nearby being closed due to the town's fire hydrant being located on the other side of the train tracks.

‘We had the fire hose across the train tracks. I believe the rail is still closed on Sunday afternoon, and understand that there isn't a train due until midnight,' says Josh.

He says that the fire was a ‘third alarm', meaning that it was of a significant size, larger than a house fire and requiring a significant number of resources. Fires are rated in size from one to five.

As to the cause of the fire Josh doesn't have any information on that.

'We don't know how it was lit. The fire investigators have attended and Police have been in attendance as well.”

The burnt out Waipā Tavern on Sunday morning . Photo: Don Jacobs.

Don Jacobs however has some thoughts on how the fire started.

'It saddens me,” says Don, 'as I think it looked deliberately lit.

'When I saw the fire initially it was very small. It started just before 2am in what was the old lounge area inside the French doors just off the balcony which is on Great South Road. That is where the kids climb up onto.”

He says a fire escape is attached to the side of the building which connects up to the second floor veranda.

'The building is huge and has 23 rooms in it. The fire wasn't in any other part of the building, just off the balcony inside, it was the easiest access part of the building,” says Don.

'The little show offs climb up there and take photos of themselves on the balcony. Two or three weeks ago I saw kids trying to get in the front door, and draw graffiti all over the building. They've been crawling all over the place. Because the fire was small and just through the French doors off the balcony I suspect it was deliberate.”

Demolition of Waipā Tavern begins on Sunday afternoon with the veranda removed followed by the top storey. Photo: Don Jacobs.

Waikato District Council mayor Allan Sanson visited the site on Great South Rd on Sunday morning.

'I was there talking to the owner, our staff, Police and the fire service,” says Sanson.

'I left about quarter to 12 and Police were finishing up and making sure there was nobody inside the building and getting access to a couple of parts.

'Once police have signed that off and FENZ are comfortable the site is finished – they're still hosing it down – they will hand it back to council.”

Sanson says council will then order the demolition of the veranda on Sunday afternoon.

'And there's a strong likelihood that the second storey, because of unreinforced masonry, would be unstable and more than likely have to have come down as well. So the whole top floor may have to come down.”

One of the lanes of the road outside the building remains closed due to the threat of the veranda falling onto it.

Demolition of Waipā Tavern continues on Sunday afternoon with the veranda and top storey removed. Photo: Don Jacobs.

Don says the previous owner John Gillespie was a good friend to the town, running the tavern for over 20 years before dying from cancer at age 68.

'I miss him dearly and wish he was still around,” says Don.

'I was the president of the CYM Running Club and John sponsored us for many years. He gave us many thousands of dollars for travel to races, for uniforms, for singlets, tracksuits – just a very generous and kind man.

'He used to come and run with us. He was absolutely hopeless at running but we put him in a team and let him go for it and he got a great deal of enjoyment out of that.

'He was also a world-class and world-renowned boxing referee. He was selected to referee a world title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Jessie Vargas in 2016 in Nevada, but he was too ill from his cancer by that stage to go,” says Don.

Referee John Gillespie in the boxing ring. Photo: Supplied.

Many locals posted to social media, telling their memories of John Gillepsie.

'Awww this is sad, this is part of the foundation of our whanau club Waipa Sports, named after the Waipa Tavern. At the very beginning we would have our little prizegivings there for the netball girls, John would close off the bar for us for a couple hours. Spent many nights waiting for my nana to come home from working here and she always smelt like country fried chicken,” writes Leonie King on Facebook.

'John Gillespie had a strong link with sporting clubs, rugby league and the Panthers,” says Mayor Sanson.

Don says John's generosity and kindness extended to many other local sports clubs.

'He set up the Waipā Trust, one of the Lions gaming trusts. It was a simple system, John would get all the paperwork, and with the local councillor John Deacon who was also a top bloke – they would have a meeting, and they didn't get caught up in bureaucracy, it was all very generous and well-done, just a delight.”

The Waipā Tavern was renovated by John Gillespie with a gaming room created and 18 poker machines installed. Photo: Supplied.

Don says he was saddened by what transpired towards the end of John Gillespie's life.

'He had cancer and was living in the building without any problems as he has done for the last 20 years until the council decided it was a fire risk. And now this is the result,” says Don.

'John was cooking chips as they do in the bar for customers, had a small fat fire which he then logged. The Council came along and read his log about the fat fire. He was dying of cancer, they threatened him with all sorts of dire consequences and he didn't have resources to fight them so he went to live in a spare room with a friend and had to leave everything behind. It was a very, very, sad ending.

'It's been a long saga, and a very sad one. They came at a defenceless man. He was an absolute legend for this town, he helped all the sports clubs around.,” says Don.

John Gillespie. Photo: Supplied.

Mayor Sanson recalls the fat fire.

'In all old buildings that like that have liquor licences they are required to be checked for safety,” says Sanson.

'Several years ago, probably five to six years ago, the upper level was condemned for use, so they weren't allowed to use it. It didn't impact on the ground floor and could still use and operate a business as they did.

'Unfortunately cancer came on quickly at the end. We were as a council looking to purchase the property but he passed away.”

The mayor says Greig Metcalfe bought the property from John's widow and was planning to develop the site.

'I was talking to Greig on site this morning, and the problem they've been having over the last few weeks is squatters trying to get inside the building,” says Sanson. 'The squatters were determined to get in no matter how many boards were put up.”

'Talking to Greig this morning, the site has to be made safe today. Greig will continue on over the coming weeks to demolish the rest of the building as it's pretty shot. He'd been talking with the council about the redevelopment of the site as he has adjacent land and property.

'The thing that's disappointed him the most is a lot of native timber they would have liked to have got out of the building.”

Don says the building, which has been reduced to a shell overnight, was originally built out of brick.

'And then sometime, I didn't know when, it was plastered over. But all the internals were wood. The floors were matai, the ceiling, trusses and internal walls were wood. The ground floor was concrete and the exterior walls were brick.”

Ngāruwāhia's Waipā Tavern was originally built in the 1800s. Photo: Supplied.

The original tavern was built in the late 1800s, according to Waikato historian Ann McEwan.

'That was called the Royal Hotel,” says Don. 'And the first owner was a saw miller from Ngāruwāhia called Peter Guthrie. Later the name of the hotel was changed to Waipā and this was destroyed by fire in 1915 and replaced by the existing two-storey building,” says Don.

Sir George Grey on balcony with Harris family May 1 1866. Hotel burnt down July 4 1894'. Sir George Bowen (Governor) stayed at Hotel May 1 1868. Royal Hotel was established in 1864, and this photo given to Licensee J.F.O'Shea in 1964 by Geoffrey Roche of Waikato Historical Society.'
Accession number HCL_00496.

The Waikato Tavern licence dates back to the 1860s but after the original site flooded, the pub was relocated in 1917.

'I think the original pub was down on the point by the riverbed, and that regularly flooded so I think they moved it up to the town where it is now,” says Don.

In 2012, when owner-operator John Gillespie placed the property on the market, he said the rich history of the hotel included hosting Waikato Maori leader Princess Te Puea Herangi among other distinguished guests.

John said at the time that some reports place the discussion of the 1946 land settlements between the government and Tainui at the hotel with Princess Te Puea, then-prime minister Peter Fraser and Pei Te Hurinui Jones all present.

He said that the hotel used to belong to the Myers family, founders of Lion Breweries, from the 1930s to the 1950s, and that he bought it in 1989.

'It was such a historic building, this was where the first raupatu was discussed in the 1940s,” says Don. 'That was the full and final settlement for the confiscations that happened in the 1860s. The prime minister stayed in that hotel before the meetings. It was a very famous hotel, every dignitary would stay there as the railway station was across the road.

'I think it was in 1975 that they closed it down as a hotel and turned it into a pub. All the hotel rooms upstairs were closed down. The owner lived upstairs and the pub was downstairs.”

Sanson says there was originally an earlier building on the site 'at the turn of last century, which was rebuilt in 1904”.

'It's sad to see the loss of an iconic building,” says Sanson. 'Every time one of these buildings gets damaged in this way a bit of our heritage gets lost forever.”

Despite its age, the building is not heritage-listed with the Waikato District Council, and the Historic Places Trust does not have the hotel on its register.