For 30 years, the Honest Lawyer pub and restaurant located on a peninsula on Nelson’s Waimea Inlet has attracted locals and visitors, with its down-to-earth hospitality and conversation-starting name making it one of the region's most recognised venues and a destination in itself.

Now the land and buildings associated with the popular establishment are genuinely for sale as a passive investment opportunity, as the vendor, who owns a number of hotels around the country, divests some assets to realign their commercial investment portfolio.

The Honest Lawyer has a long-term lease in place to a proven local operator who has owned the business for 15 years and it is trade as usual for the bar, restaurant, guest accommodation and function venue.

Occupying a prime 1.30ha waterfront site zoned Suburban Commercial, the old English-style buildings with a circa-1,150sqm footprint were built in 1995 and sit within established gardens with expansive views across Waimea Inlet to Barnicoat Range, Oyster Island and Arthur Range.

The main two-level building comprises a generous ground floor with a public bar, dining area, commercial kitchen, function rooms, cool rooms, storage, and three ensuite guest rooms. On the first floor, there are 10 guest rooms with ensuite bathrooms, a honeymoon suite, and comfortable three-bedroom manager’s accommodation.

An external annex houses administration offices, storage, and three additional accommodation units. There is also a standalone function building with a workshop attached and adjoining event space, along with a boardwalk on the Waimea Inlet frontage to the north of the site, landscaped areas and a sealed parking area.

The tenant, The Honest Lawyer Limited, pays net annual rental of $300,000 plus GST, and is responsible for all outgoings. The current lease has two further rights of renewal to be exercised with a final expiry of April 2046.

Gill Ireland, Bayleys Nelson and Auckland colleague Paul Dixon are taking the property at 1 Point Road, Monaco, Nelson, through a deadline private treaty campaign closing 30th October, unless sold prior.

Ireland says this is a rare opportunity to secure a freehold coastal hotel investment in one of Nelson's most desirable waterfront locations, just 8.5km from Nelson's CBD and within easy reach of the airport and key tourism routes.

“It is a unique offering given the look and feel, the coastal position, the range of hospitality services it offers, and the fact that it sits on a sizeable piece of underutilised land on the Monaco Peninsula, in an area that is evolving and sought-after.

“The Honest Lawyer is a landmark boutique hotel and gastro-pub, backed by a long-term lease to a highly reputable operator who tells us he recorded one of the best winter trading results in a long time this last season.”

The venue attracts strong and loyal local patronage and is well-positioned to capitalise on Nelson’s domestic and international visitor market, which is growing, says Ireland.

“Nelson-Tasman is a great region and has year-round appeal for visitors and tourists, with Nelson Airport one of the country’s busiest regional ports.

“Angus & Associates’ latest Domestic Visitor Satisfaction Survey for the year ending March 2025 revealed that travellers who visited Nelson-Tasman on their most recent domestic trip reported the highest satisfaction levels in the country, well-surpassing many other popular destinations around the country.

“Like all regions, there are economic headwinds, but Nelson has enduring appeal as a laid-back yet on-to-it place to live, work and visit. Property-wise, there are encouraging signs with industrial real estate transactions on the rise, activity in the residential sector ramping up, and offshore enquiry - particularly out of the US – increasing.

Dixon says regional New Zealand is outperforming many of the main centres on economic performance, which adds to the investment credentials of the Monaco property.

“Nelson is in eighth place on ASB’s latest Regional Economic Scoreboard, which ranks 16 regions on economic performance. Nelson’s retail spend saw the second-largest improvement after Otago, and house prices remain resilient compared to the national average.

“Accommodation properties do generate a lot of interest and are seen as favourable investments, and with tourism New Zealand’s number one export earner, we expect investor interest to circle this well-located and proven asset.”