Est. 1884 · 2 Market Street, Blenheim
A corner of Blenheim that refuses to quit
Three hotels. Three fires. One earthquake. And still pouring. The building at 2 Market Street has anchored the heart of Blenheim for over 140 years.
Long before the first Criterion Hotel opened its doors, this corner of Market Street was already part of Blenheim's story. In the late 1860s the site was home to Nosworthy's hardware store, surrounded by the wooden buildings that defined the young town — roof shingles and all, which as it turned out, would prove a serious liability.
In February 1884, George Carter built the first Criterion Hotel here, establishing what would become one of Marlborough's most storied addresses. What followed was a cycle of destruction and determined rebuilding that reads more like legend than local history.
The timeline
Nosworthy's hardware store stands on the corner of Market Street North. The town is mostly wooden buildings with timber roof shingles — beautiful, but dangerously flammable.
George Carter opens the first Criterion Hotel on the site. It quickly becomes one of Blenheim's principal establishments.
The great Market Street fire breaks out in the Criterion Hotel and tears through the town, destroying more than 20 businesses and causing an estimated £50,000 in damage. Dr Lewis Horne, who had served Blenheim for 30 years, perishes in the hotel. The first Criterion is gone.
A second, grander Criterion Hotel rises on the same corner. Business resumes.
Fire strikes again. The second Criterion Hotel is destroyed. The site is cleared once more.
The third Criterion Hotel is built in masonry — a deliberate choice after two timber predecessors were lost to fire. The ornate façade gives the building a grandeur that still defines Market Street.
The Murchison earthquake shakes Marlborough. The ornate tops of the Criterion's façade are removed as a precaution — a practical loss that slightly changes the building's silhouette.
Fire damages the building for the third time. It survives — the masonry construction finally does its job — and is restored. The building standing today is this third hotel.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh lunch at the Criterion Hotel during their second visit to Marlborough. The hotel hosts a formal luncheon in their honour.
Terry and Audrey Sloan take on the building and open Biddy Kate's Cafe Bar — bringing a new chapter to a very old story.
Still family-run, still pouring pints of Guinness, still the heart of Blenheim. Some corners don't change, and that's exactly the point.
30 June 1887
The fire that changed Market Street
In the early hours of June 30, 1887, fire broke out in the apartments of Mr Carter, landlord of the Criterion Hotel. A nor'wester was blowing. Within hours, the flames had jumped across Market Street and consumed more than twenty businesses — the Colonial Bank, the Oddfellows' Hall, bootmakers, drapers, a baker, a photographer, and dozens more.
Estimated damage was £50,000 — an enormous sum for a provincial town in 1887. Dr Lewis Horne, who had served Blenheim as a doctor for thirty years, was among those who perished.
The newspaper report below, dispatched the same day, lists every building lost. The Criterion Hotel is first on the list. It would be rebuilt, as it always was.
Press Association dispatch, 30 June 1887
Tyree Photo, Nelson · c. 1891
The second Criterion Hotel
This photograph by Tyree of Nelson shows the second Criterion Hotel — the building that replaced the one lost in the great fire of 1887. Grand, ornate, and unmistakably Victorian, it stood on the same corner of Market Street until December 17, 1906, when fire took it too.
Two people look down from the balcony. A horse and cart waits at the kerb. It's a snapshot of Blenheim at its prosperous colonial peak — and of a building that had no idea what was coming.
13 February 1963
The day the Queen came to lunch
On their second visit to Marlborough, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh held a formal luncheon at the Criterion Hotel. The crowd that gathered outside was substantial enough that photographs were taken from the street.
The Criterion Hotel balcony, 13 February 1963
In Honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh
The Luncheon Menu
Criterion Hotel, Blenheim · 13 February 1963
Toheroa
Crème of Chicken
Wairau Salmon
Pelorus Crumbed Butterfish
Chicken in Aspic
Curried Eggs and Rice
York Ham
Roast Seasoned Turkey
Roast Seasoned Chicken
Roast Duckling with Apple Sauce
Salads
Lettuce, Cucumber, Tomato and Potato
Garden Peas · Buttered Potatoes
Fruit Salad
Apple Shortcake
Strawberry Pavlova
Pineapple Bavarian Cream
Vanilla Ice Cream with Fresh Cream
Wines
Sherry
Williams & Humbert's Dry Sack · Harvey's Bristol Dry
Champagne
Charles Heidsieck Dry Monopole · Mumms Cordon Rouge
Pol Roger · Perrier Jouët
Port
Southard's Tribunal · Robertson's Pyramid
2004 – Present
Biddy Kate's
When Terry and Audrey Sloan took on the building in 2004, they inherited one of the most storied addresses in Marlborough. They named it Biddy Kate's, kept the character, and have been looking after Blenheim ever since — over two decades of coffees, pints, quiz nights, and good meals served to the whole community.
The building has survived more than most. So has the spirit of the place. If you've got old photos of Biddy's or the Criterion over the years, we'd love to see them. Drop us a line through the contact page.