Pubs, Hotels, Bars and Taverns in Waikato, New Zealand

When gold was found at Thames in 1867, hotels sprang up almost overnight: the first opened that August, and by 1872 around 80 were listed. In Hamilton, the Waikato Brewery began in 1873 and was later run by Mary Jane Innes and her family; Waikato Draught, first brewed in 1925, still carries the region's name. To the south, the King Country was a no-licence district from 1884 to 1954 at the request of Ngāti Maniapoto leaders, though sly grog was never hard to find.