The long-awaited demolition of the Arthurs Point Tavern began this week, and one of its owners, former Queenstown Lakes district councillor Rick Pettit, was "not one bit" sad to see the building's removal.
Last month, the council labelled the building an "eyesore" - it has been empty since 2008 and is now in a state of disrepair, primarily due to vandalism.
The pub was established in 1882 and has been through many different forms in it's 100-year plus history.
It has seen many owners. It was thought to be one of the oldest licensed premises in the South Island, but began to suffer when it lost its off licence.
While Mr Pettit had planned to begin the demolition last week, weather forced the postponement.
He and his labourers began gutting the inside of the historic building on Tuesday and tore the corrugated iron roof off yesterday.
Mr Pettit told the Otago Daily Times yesterday "concept plans are in place" for the road reserve opposite and these include a cafe on Gorge Rd.
"Well it would be great to sit and overlook the views of the Gorge below," he said.
Plans for a larger complex are unlikely to go ahead because the 1000m land area Mr Pettit was going to receive from the council has been halved to 520sq m.
In 2009, the Queenstown Times reported business partners and owners Mr Pettit, Wayne McKeague and Paul Halford intended to build a commercial development.
Council project manager Lane Vermaas said the land mass has been reduced because they have had to realign the road and reject land boundaries in order to fit with their plans to build a two-lane bridge to replace the single-lane McChesney bridge.
Mr Vermaas said they are applying for the bridge's funding with the New Zealand Transport Agency. They hope to have it under way by January next year and finished before 2013.
Mr Pettit has employed archaeologist Andrew Winter to look for any traces of the original building.
- Olivia Caldwell
