Tuesday marked the first anniversary of a devastating fire caused by an electrical fault in the kitchen.
It destroyed the beloved pub, on the corner of Stanley and Ballarat Sts, housed in one of the resort’s most iconic historic buildings, owned by former mayor Warren Cooper and his wife Lorraine.
Speaking to Mountain Scene about the past year, publican Clark Frew summed it up in one word: "Hard".
"It took me quite a while to not worry about stuff I couldn’t control ... if I can’t control the outcome, don’t put any energy into it, otherwise you just wear yourself down."
It has been a torturous wait to see the things he could control come to fruition, too.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council only granted building and resource consent for what is expected to be a $4 million-plus rebuild the week before Christmas.
Fortunately, contractor Naylor Love wasted no time getting on with it. Project manager Chris Baines said at the moment they were a little ahead of the original programme.
Roofing iron is due to be installed from next Thursday and the tent — keeping the Heritage New Zealand category 2-listed building, which dates back to 1881, safe from the elements — is likely to start coming down from April 15.
After that, the Naylor Love crew will get to work putting the inside of the building, including heritage features, back together again.
Mr Baines said that was expected to be finished on July 31, after which the Ignite Architects-designed final fitout would start.
That was expected to take between six and eight weeks, meaning by mid-to-late September Speight’s will be pouring at Queenstown’s Speight’s Ale House again.
