Footage has been captured of a historic North Canterbury hotel, known affectionately by locals as the Grand Lady, as it burnt to the ground overnight.
Around 30 firefighters were called to the Waiau Lodge Hotel just after midnight, but it was too dangerous to enter the entirely engulfed structure.
One Waiau local described it as for big loss for the small town, having hoped the local watering hole would one day reopen.
“I was standing on the green outside and it was so big you could feel how hot it was just from there… it was massive and still smouldering this morning,” she told 1 NEWS.
“It’s gutting because there’s heaps of history, especially with everything after the earthquake recovery.”
The 10-room hotel was red-stickered and forced to close in 2016 after suffering severe damage during the 7.8 magnitude Kaikōura earthquake.
With help from the community, a temporary replacement pub was set up in the carpark of the Waiau Lodge Hotel six months after the quake, named the Waiau Tavern.
The local said while some people had criticised the vacant building calling it an eyesore, she had always liked the building and hoped one day it would return to its former glory.
“It’s historic, it’s the Grand Lady of Waiau and it is incredibly sad to see it go up in flames.”
The 111-year-old building was unoccupied and not connected to power at the time of the fire according to Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
Deconstruction of the site has already begun, with the remaining walls being pulled down due to safety concerns.
A fire investigator had visited the site earlier today but no formal cause of the blaze has been announced.
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