FOR decades, Tailevu Hotel has stood through changing times, carrying the memories of families, travellers and generations who have passed through its doors.
There is something about an old building that refuses to let the past disappear. In the dining area of Tailevu Hotel, the old-world character of the building still lingers.
Its colonial feel and craftsmanship carry a sense of another time – when dairy farmers gathered after a day’s work, express buses stopped along the old Kings Road and families travelled between Suva and Tailevu.
The hotel is more than a building in Korovou. It is part of the memory of Tailevu North. For Oliver Williams, director of Tailevu Hotel, its story begins in the 1950s when William Gatward designed and built the hotel on land belonging to the Mataqali Tuicolo of Matacaucau Village, Tailevu North. Gatward was the hotel’s original owner and proprietor.
The hotel became a place where some of the area’s pioneering dairy families, the Gatwards, Harrisons, Scotts and Harnesses – could gather and socialise.
“These families were the pioneers of the dairy industry in Tailevu North,” Williams said.
It was a different Tailevu then, and the hotel became woven into the rhythm of life in the area.
When the Kings Road passed by
The old Kings Road brought another kind of visitor to the hotel.
Express buses travelling along the road would stop at Tailevu Hotel, giving passengers time to get off, use the toilet, stretch their legs and buy food and refreshments before continuing their journey.
For Kuila Kaci, Williams’ mother, those stops became part of childhood. She remembers travelling to and from Suva as a little girl and stopping at the hotel. Years later, her connection to the place would become much deeper.
The hotel was closely connected to the Gatward family, whose former farm and residence is in Deepwater.
Williams said the architecture of the former Gatward residence is like the hotel. The Gatwards and Harnesses became well known in the area, their names becoming part of the landscape of Tailevu North.
Gatward Park, beside Tailevu North College carries the name of William Gatward. The hotel, too, carried his mark.
A building changes hand
Time, however brought change.
At some point, Gokals took over Tailevu Hotel while the Tailevu Provincial Council was involved in what Williams described as some form of partnership.
Then, in 1992 the hotel changed hands again. Warick Williams and Kuila Kaci, through Ryda Limited (now known as Ryda Proprietary Limited) bought the property from Gokal.
What they found was a building that had lost much of its former character.
“Renovations started soon after settlement. The property was run down and a shadow of its former glory,” Williams said.
There was no main electricity.
Instead, the family relied on hurricane lamps and an old British generator for light and power.
For the children, however the lack of electricity brought its own kind of excitement.
“As kids this was fun and exciting. Our mother hated it!” Williams recalled.
The family set about renovating the property.
But restoring the building would prove to be only one chapter in its changing story.
The nights of the Bull & Bell
After the renovations, Ryda Proprietary Ltd leased the entire premises to Subash, the owner of Kings Hotel in Nausori. The hotel became a nightclub and watering hole.
And with that came another side of its history.
There were fights and clashes between rival villages. One night, a massive brawl erupted between young men from Naivicula and Navunisole.
The violence left considerable damage behind. Windows were broken. Steel doors were ripped from their hinges. The hotel was almost set on fire.
Many people were injured. Korovou police eventually brought the chaos under control.
The incident occurred only a month after the hotel had been leased to Subash. The lease was immediately cancelled.
Subash returned to the safety of Nausori. Yet the hotel’s association with nightlife continued.
At some point, the Bull & Bell nightclub was established. It became famous or infamous, depending on who was asked – among locals and travellers.
For a place that had begun as a social meeting point for dairy farmers, the hotel had entered another era.
The people who came back
But beneath the changing ownership, renovations and nightlife, another story continued. The old families kept returning. The Gatwards and other old European families who had settled in the area continued to visit the hotel until they either passed away or migrated.
Distance did not necessarily erase their connection to the place.
Kaci remembers the story of one of the Harness brothers who returned to the hotel after years of living in New Zealand. He ate and drank at the hotel before deciding to walk from there to Naivicula – a journey he had made when he was a young man.
The decision caused some concern. A search party was organised to look for him. He eventually made it home late that night. The story is almost simple in its telling, but for Williams, it says something about the hold the place has over those who once called Northland home.
“It just shows how much fondness outsiders who reside in Northland have for this beautiful place and her people,” he said.
Back to Deepwater
The story of Tailevu Hotel does not end at its present location.
Its roots reach back to Deepwater Rd. Julianne Harness whose parents, Bob and Anne Harness had bought the old Gatward Farm, said the family now owns the Gatward farm, including the old hotel site.
Before Tailevu Hotel stood at the end of Korovou Town, she said, it was situated along Deepwater Road, close to the Gatward residence (now the Harness’ home).
The hotel was then moved to its present location in town. Last year, the Harness family bought the piece of land where the old hotel site was located.
“It was the last purchase we did with the Gatwards and we have combined it with the current property that we had bought from them earlier,” Harness said.
The old site now forms another link in a history that stretches back to the Gatwards and the early days of the hotel.
A place shaped by time
Today, the character of Tailevu Hotel lies not only in its age, but in what the building has witnessed.
Its dining area carries a nostalgic ambience. The building retains a strong sense of old-world character and craftsmanship.
But the atmosphere of the hotel is also shaped by the memories attached to it. Some places gather the past around them so tightly that time cannot completely loosen its grip.
Tailevu Hotel is one of those places. Its walls and rooms carry traces of the decades that have passed, not as a single story but as many stories layered one over another.
And perhaps that is why the old hotel continues to feel familiar; it has not simply stood in Tailevu, it has lived alongside it.
The Tailevu Hotel is situated at the end of Korovou Town. Picture: ANA MADIGIBULI
Tailevu Hotel was designed and built by William Gatward in the 1950s. Picture: ANA MADIGIBULI
The Bull & Bell nightclub is also part of the property.
Picture: ANA MADIGIBULI
The hotel is situated on a hill above the end of Korovou Town when you head to the West via the Kings Rd. Picture: ANA MADIGIBULI
The hotel offers various accommodation packages that visitors can choose from.
Picture: ANA MADIGIBULI
Guests enjoys their dinner at the hotel in 2000.
Picture: TAILEVU HOTEL
Many guests would stay at the hotel in the early 2000s.
Picture: TAILEVU HOTEL
