The restaurant was still very much the same as it was years ago with many of the same furnishings and the same philosophy, selling premium New Zealand meat with an unlimited salad bar.
''It's one of the original steakhouses in Dunedin, if not in New Zealand,'' Mr Barron said.
The steakhouse had carved out a niche for itself proven by the fact it had been around for so long, he said.
When the Huntsman opened, part owners Russell and Denise Borrell designed and helped develop the restaurant. Many people would remember the large wooden brown door with the metal ring for a handle, as this was the only frontage to the restaurant for many years, Mr Barron said. The door was one of the few things that was changed. The Huntsman was taken over in 1974 by Leo Fisher, with some guidance from accountant and paymaster Ray Anderson. They ran the business for the next 22 years. In the 1980s, the frontage was changed from the brown door to a window with a glass door.
Paul Cockroft and Glenda Kaan took ownership of the restaurant in 1996.
Mr Barron bought it in February 2009.
Mr Barron was a pharmacist for years having owned and operated his own pharmacies in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. He has also been a teacher of pharmacy students and for many years was the ''Radio Pharmacist'' on Radio Dunedin. He also served as an elected board member on the Otago District Health Board.
Under Mr Barron's watch, the restaurant developed a steak-cooking guide to ensure customers got their meat cooked the way they wanted it.
Mr Barron had put the business on the market only within the past few months.
''It's time for me to move on,'' he said.
The steakhouse had a long history and had become one of Dunedin's iconic businesses, Mr Barron said.
As the vendor, he could not say what a potential owner might do with the restaurant, but he hoped it would remain as it was.
