Gardies Gonsies.

by Rory MacDonald | 12:00 am 12/07/2010

Legendary student pub The Garden Tavern, affectionately known as ‘Gardies', has pulled its last jug. The doors to the iconic watering hole closed for the last time on Friday, June 18, a day prior to the widely-expected closing date.

The University bought the pub last semester for $1.75m and will be turning it into study space.

Gardies’ final night went off without a hitch, as a couple of hundred ex-Scarfies and current students congregated for the last time.

“It’s a good send-off, chilled out and that. No need for anything over-the-top,” one punter said.

However, the premature termination left unsatisfied many punters who were expecting the last night of Gardies to coincide with the last test match played at Carisbrook on the Saturday night.

But the poetic potential of the closure of two Scarfie cultural icons was not maximised, as the Gardies owners put on their responsible hats and closed the doors a day early. 

Local authorities were concerned with that the coincidence of the last nights of Gardies, Carisbrook, and the end of many exams was a recipe for disaster and placed a liquor ban on the entire North Dunedin area. One Gardies owner, Simon McConnon, was wary of the potential the night had for ‘idiocy’, and was reluctant to fuel it. He was also wary of the potential for destruction and damages, and didn’t want the pub to go out on a sour note.

In an effort to minimise any potential disorder, OUSA organised for free buses to ferry punters away after closing time.

“We just didn’t want the last week of Gardies to be anything controversial, we just wanted it to go out the way it should go out, which is a grandfatherly pub saying goodbye to its loyal customers, and Friday did exactly that,” McConnon says.

The call on the early closure was made at the start of the week, but wasn’t widely advertised.

On the Friday night, while festivities were in full swing, D Scene published a report on its website announcing that the pub would not be opening the following night and the University had “compensated the owners for the lost day's earnings.” This news was rapidly disseminated and soon reports were surfacing that up to $40 000 had changed hands. However, both the University and McConnon deny any money was ever exchanged. “[The rumours] are bullshit. Not true at all. Would have been awesome if they did, but no they didn’t, not even close,” McConnon says.

McConnon hoped the pub would be remembered for the good times, and not just the Undie 500 disorder, which he stresses were a tiny and mostly un-related part of Gardies history. 

“The times that people have at the Gardies; they were just good, relaxed, down-to-earth people having a few pleasing ales and having a good time.”

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