The Honest Lawyer, Ascend Hotel Collection

About this place

The Honest Lawyer is a 13-room country pub and hotel at 1 Point Road on Nelson's Monaco Peninsula, built and operated in an 'Olde Worlde' English country pub style. It first opened in 1995. The property sits on the peninsula with the Waimea Estuary as a backdrop, roughly between Nelson city and Richmond, and is affiliated to the Ascend Hotel Collection, the soft brand within the Choice Hotels group.

It is a character property rather than a corporate hotel, and it suits groups that want somewhere with a distinct sense of place, low delegate numbers and a self-contained setting away from the city.

Rooms and facilities

• 13 rooms, including suites, twin rooms, king rooms and apartments.
• Some rooms occupy what were once stables, retaining half doors and brick flooring; some feature deep claw-foot baths.
• Rooms are ensuite and include coffee-making facilities, in-room phones and free WiFi.
• A complimentary help-yourself continental breakfast is provided.
• Gardens, an orchard, a rustic barn and a courtyard sit within the grounds.

Meetings and events

The hotel offers function and conference facilities alongside its accommodation, and is an established wedding venue in the Nelson Tasman region.

• The Banquet Room seats up to 60 guests for formal dining, or up to 70 for cafe-style dining.
• Across the site — banquet room, courtyard and the more intimate dining room — the venue advises it can cater for up to 116 guests.
• The gardens, orchard and barn are used for ceremonies and photography, with the reception moving indoors afterwards.

For business use, the scale lends itself to executive retreats, strategy days, board offsites, small incentive groups and private client dinners rather than large conferences. The ability to take exclusive or near-exclusive use of a 13-room property is the key attraction for small senior groups.

Dining

The restaurant serves European-style dishes for lunch and dinner. There is a garden bar with outdoor seating that is popular with locals, families and cyclists using the nearby trails, which gives group functions an authentic pub atmosphere rather than a hotel-function-room feel.

Suitability

Best suited to small incentive groups, executive retreats, board meetings, private dinners and weddings of up to around 60 to 116 guests depending on format. Organisers needing large plenary space should pair it with, or substitute, one of the larger Nelson venues.