News

The Captain Cook Tavern will be open again within a year, according to a New Zealand architectural firm.

Edwin Elliot of Elliot Architects confirmed that the company has been hired to draw up plans to convert the pub, which shut its doors in July after 153 years of operation, into a restaurant with an attached bar.

The plans involve keeping the corner of the ground floor and upstairs as a bar/club and installing a separate restaurant on the remaining ground floor area. Earthquake strengthening would also be carried out.

Elliot said he and the owners would “respect the old building,” and will “enhance [its] traditional features.” The toilets upstairs will also “be getting a tidy up” but the main layout upstairs would remain the same. The open space out the back of the Cook would also be opened up to let more sun in. Overall, he says, “it will look far better than before.”

A smaller bar downstairs will mean that the Cook “will be much more intimate,” although Critic understands that intimacy has never been an issue there before.

Elliot would not reveal the identity of the new tenant; however, there will possibly be more than one if separate businesses are to operate from the premises.

At the latest OUSA Executive meeting last Tuesday 3 September, it emerged that the Executive is still interested in purchasing a stake in the establishment, and is considering a PledgeMe campaign to raise funds to that end.

OUSA Welfare Officer Ruby Sycamore-Smith’s suggested fundraising target of $500,000, however, is unlikely to put a dent in the cost of refurbishing the building, which is reported to cost millions. Sycamore-Smith suggested the funds would “incentivise” a third party to buy the Cook.

Even if OUSA did decide to purchase the Cook or another pub, the University has made it clear that they would not support the move unless they could have control over the pub’s management. At the last Executive meeting, it was revealed that the University had threatened to withdraw from its Service Level Agreement (SLA) negotiations with OUSA if OUSA were to purchase a pub without the University’s involvement.

In February, Critic reported that OUSA had met with the University over summer to discuss the possibility of purchasing the Cook and turning it into a student-run pub and venue. Those talks stalled after the asking price for the pub was revealed to be $6 million.

It could be up to a year away, but watch this space as we await more details regarding the Captain Cook’s possible resurrection.