Thistle Inn Wellington NZ

Where you like to get loaded, and why.

Moderators: Artful Drunktective, mistah willies, NYDingbat, Judge, oettinger, Oggar, Badfellow, Mr Boozificator

Post Reply
User avatar
Casual Binger
Lord of Benders
Lord of Benders
Posts: 406
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2014 8:19 pm
Location: NSW, Australia

Thistle Inn Wellington NZ

Post by Casual Binger »

This place used to great. Used to be. It's across the road from the National Archives where I worked, so I stopped in for a jug of beer on the way home more often than not. It's a rare thing to find a pub in Central Wellington that still serves jugs. Nowdays the Thistle doesn't either. Back then it was an old school seedy pub. The regulars were old timers, plus a few construction works & neerdowells. I used to walk to work along the docks, where you'd see guys fishing off the wharves in the mornings. In the evenings you'd see them in the Thistle. Sometimes you could buy a pottle of freshly caught & filleted fish mixed with mayonnaise. Rumour had it that the legendary Maori rebel chief Te Rauparaha used to drink there. Whenever there was a work function on I'd try & get people to come over the road for a drink afterwards. The management types never came. They thought it was dangerous. It wasn't. A few years later when I came back to Wellington for a visit, I arranged to meet a friend at the Thistle for a drink after work. The whole place had been tarted up. Expensive craft beers on tap. A complete remodelling inside. The regulars were gone, of course. There were signs around the place proudly proclaiming the place's history, despite the fact that they'd obliterated most of it. And who should I spot drinking there but those management types from across the road.

User avatar
booznik
King Cockeyed
King Cockeyed
Posts: 1545
Joined: Sat May 03, 2014 2:29 pm
Location: People's Republic of SoCal

Re: Thistle Inn Wellington NZ

Post by booznik »

It's a shame you couldn't chuck the old place into the National Archives, and let them build their new McPub based on the blueprints.

Oh well. At least you have your memories. Future generations will probably never be able to experience a place like that.
"Booznik. Smooth, classy and manatee-like." --Bur

"Oh, you've been reading your Sir Kenelm Digby, haven't you? Stick to the mead recipes, especially that of the Mayor of Moscovy. That shizz is SACK!!!" --Badfellow

"Now stop and DRINK! bastards." --mistah willies

"A stand alone place for booze is as essential for a home, as is a bed to sleep on." --Miklo

Image

User avatar
Casual Binger
Lord of Benders
Lord of Benders
Posts: 406
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2014 8:19 pm
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: Thistle Inn Wellington NZ

Post by Casual Binger »

booznik wrote:It's a shame you couldn't chuck the old place into the National Archives, and let them build their new McPub based on the blueprints.

Oh well. At least you have your memories. Future generations will probably never be able to experience a place like that.
I dont blame the owners for trying to revitalise. The place was booming when i revisited. What galled me was seeing my former collegues, who are nominally charged with protecting the nation's heritage, clearly preferred the bland, inoffensive mediocrity of the updated version to what was a genuine throwback to an earlier era. Its not that the new place is bad. Its just that the old place was better because it was unique. Still, time will tell. Situated as it is next to the bus interchange, it way well become a dive again someday.

User avatar
Patchez
Drinking Like W.C.
Drinking Like W.C.
Posts: 6537
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 6:41 pm
Location: South Central, PA

Re: Thistle Inn Wellington NZ

Post by Patchez »

Consider it a feather in your drinking cap. Once you left town your favorite local, bereft of it's main source of income, had to cave and follow the latest trend. The only way they managed to make ends meet was to lure a larger portion of the management types in to make up for how much you, a Modern Drunkard, would spend and consume.

Skal ta oss fassen!
Now you're ready for some anti-dry-otics!-BeerMakesMeSmarter

If worms had daggers, birds wouldn't fuck with them-Todd Snider

Blackout and be extraordinary-Absinthe of Malice

Post Reply