Tomorrow night, Arrowtown publican Jeannie Crawford’s kicking off a weekend of celebrations to celebrate The Fork and Tap’s sesquicentenary, with punters encouraged to go back in time — though not quite as far back as the gold rush — to toast to her in style.
Crawford and her late husband Keith bought the popular watering hole about 16 years ago and have since transformed the 150-year-old building, including a mammoth seismic strengthening effort, completed last December.
Now one of the most iconic and photographed buildings in Arrowtown — if not the district — Crawford says they’ve put "a lot of work into making it a beautiful building".
Initially built in 1874 by the Colonial Bank as a residence, within the first year it was converted into a bank for the gold rush.
Crawford says it remained as a bank for about five years, before it was, essentially, sublet.
At one stage it housed the Lake County Press, the local paper of the day, while the bank was only open a day a week.
Once the gold rush ended the town didn’t need two banks, so it was sold to two brothers, both of whom were lawyers, in 1896 — they continued operating it as the local barristers for about 30 years.
It reverted back to being a residential building for about 60 or 70 years, till the 1970s, after which it began its journey as a hospo venue.
Crawford says for a long time it was "the famous Stonehouse Tea Rooms", it then operated as a restaurant, under various owners, was latterly converted into a pub, and is now famous as The Fork and Tap.
Noting it’s very much part of the fabric of the town, and adds to Arrowtown’s charm, culture and beauty, Crawford and her team decided the building’s 150th was a fitting cause for a weekend of parties.
Tomorrow night they’re hosting a ‘Prohibition’ party, complete with a gin and whisky bar, and live music, ahead of Saturday night’s ticketed ‘Peaky Blinders’ party.
That’ll include a glass of bubbles on arrival — served by a Flame Entertainment aerialist in a hoop — canapes and grazing tables, local five-piece band The Kollective, which includes Ned Wepiha, Tony and Sam Ross, and "some dancing girls".
Tickets cost $90, via Humanitix.
