THE LEGENDARY HILLCREST

Opened to thirsty Waikato uni students in 1970, the Tavern Hillcrest earned its status as a legendary bar and live rock venue.

Students usually referred to it just as ‘the Tavern’ or sometimes, ‘H-Block’ – a block the University of Waikato had on its building plans since inception ( between I and J Blocks) but which has never been built.

Most big artists and bands have played there – or at least the did up until 2006, when the original Hilly was demolished to make way for a supermarket.

It reopened as “The Hilly” at a much smaller site a couple of years later. Not quite the same though.

We know there must hundreds of hard-case Hillcrest stories from over the years. We’d love to hear yours.