The Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust has bought the Criterion Hotel business and trust chairman Graeme Clark said the business would ‘‘definitely’’ reopen, but he would not offer any further details on the business’s reopening yesterday.
"One way or the other, the Criterion will reopen," Mr Clark said.
There were negotiations under way and Mr Clark said due to the matter being commercially sensitive he could not comment further.
Mrs Cameron-Duncan bought the business operating in the trust-owned 1877 landmark hotel in Tyne St from Sally-Ann Donnelly, one of Oamaru’s best-known restaurateurs, in 2016.
Yesterday, Mr Clark dismissed the notion that for the trust — as a landlord — to purchase the business was irregular.
"The trust used to run it, way back, of course, at the beginning," he said.
The rejuvenation of Oamaru’s Victorian Precinct, many in town say, began at the Criterion Hotel as volunteers reopened the bar for social gatherings.
