Renovations reveal part of the past

Highland Homes foreman Kyle Pomeroy with some interesting prints found in the wall of the old Branson’s Hotel in St Andrew St yesterday.

A mysterious hole in the wall has been discovered at a central Dunedin building.

Old wallpaper inside the hole in the wall shows drawings of ships. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON

The old Branson’s Bar and Hotel site on the corner of St Andrew St and Great King St is being renovated for the new Tokyo Ramen Takeichi restaurant.

The hole was discovered after plaster and plasterboard had been chiselled off by Highland Homes workers renovating the site.

"No idea [what it is]," Gillian Sugiyama, one of the operators of Tokyo Ramen Takeichi, said.

"We’re going to leave it and just work it into the design."

Highland Homes foreman Kyle Pomeroy suspected it had been some sort of opening into another room.

Mrs Sugiyama and her husband Yuya Sugiyama hoped to hear from anyone who had information about the hole in the wall.

They hoped the restaurant would be ready to open at the start of next month.

Comments

Liebnich Tue, 08/09/2020 - 9:00am #

Booked into the Branson last century, I said 'As long as it's Dry'.

It wasn't. Everyone was sinking more.