The infamous pub and hotel will soon be intentionally silent, thanks to its musical neighbour.

Legendary New Zealand musician Neil Finn has purchased the infamous Edinburgh Castle in Auckland, with intentions to transform it into a wellness retreat, a spokesperson has confirmed to The Spinoff.

Finn owns Roundhead music studios, which has lived two doors down from Edinburgh Castle on Newton Rd for more than 20 years. His wife’s business, the incredibly named Sharondelier, operates out of the same building. With this purchase, Finn will occupy nearly the full block, much to the delight of their Symonds St neighbours.

Located on the corner of Symonds St and Newton Rd, Edinburgh Castle was built way back in the 1860s, one of a cluster of hotels erected at the top of Symonds St, and the only one still standing. At the meeting to determine its city licence in 1865, the licence was opposed by 60 residents of Symonds St, who believed a hotel wasn’t needed in the area and would “be likely to interfere with the peace of the neighbourhood”. 

And disturb the peace it did. As a short-and-long term hotel, Edinburgh Castle played host to coroner’s inquests and other public meetings in the late 19th century. More than 150 years later and the hotel and pub has garnered a reputation for rowdiness and disorderly behaviour from its patrons. Such behaviour included a kidnapping, a stabbing, a manslaughter committed by a patron leaving the pub, and, according to a 2025 Stuff report, a massive 162 police complaints.

In 2023, Edinburgh Castle surrendered its liquor licence after its renewal was fiercely opposed by locals as well as the police. It remained open for another two years as a hotel – including special “three hours” rates – and pokies destination. Even without alcohol for sale, its continued operations as a gambling hub were wearing heavily on neighbouring businesses. 

In July last year, Paparazzi italian restaurant owner Sashe Sterjov described aggressive begging from patrons outside his restaurant, and when customers didn’t abide, “they’ve got angry and smashed things”.

Sterjov himself was involved in an angry incident just last week when he threw spaghetti on his neighbour’s cafe window before physically confronting him over a wheelie bin. More than one neighbour spoken to by The Spinoff at the time noted the stress of Edinburgh Castle’s unruly operations for the past few years contributing to neighbourhood tensions. The hotel lost its gambling machine licence on November 30 last year, removing the vast majority of its revenue overnight,

A local business representative, when commenting on the spaghetti incident, referred back to Sterjov’s growing concerns about behaviour from the pub’s patrons. But now, they said, there was a “really good” new owner, and they were confident the problems would all be resolved. They did not say who the new good owner was.

That confidence was echoed by another business owner on the block, who said the community was “buzzing” with the “rumour” that Finn was the new owner of the infamous site.

When asked for confirmation last week, a spokesperson for Finn said he could not comment.

On Monday, the spokesperson confirmed that “Neil has purchased the Edinburgh Castle and intends to turn it into a wellness retreat”. They could not provide any further detail, only “it will all start once planning permissions are approved”.

In the meantime, the 160-year-old hotel has quietly shuttered.