Welcome to The Free House

.. The Free House is untied to any brewery.
Since opening in April 2009, we have served on tap
307 different craft beers served from 53 different breweries..



Best Bar, Nelson and Overall Supreme Winner in the Wild Tomato Dine Out Awards 2011
Nelson's Best Pub - Lonely Planet 2011

NEXT FREE HOUSE EVENTS:

SAT Jan 28th: NEW VINYL - Cool Trio - FREE, 8pm
SAT Feb 4th: RAS JUDAH - World Music - FREE, 8pm

Alabama 3 Acoustic and Unplugged, John Cooper Clarke, Drab Doo Riffs,
Grant Smithies, The Immigrants, The Ukes of Hazard for MarchFest on Sat March 24th?
Yes! Earlybird tix $25 on sale now - NO BOOKING FEES - see here

All Free House event details here..

EVENT GER (yurt) - all events at The Free House are here

Sign up for regular Free House, Dead Good Beer Events & MarchFest news updates.


Be. Accessible has completed a Be. Welcome Assessment for The Free House beer garden. This location has been rated a Gold Organisation - defined as having excellent levels of accessibility in a number of areas.




The Free House now regularly stocks Dead Good Beers IPA, Pilsner, Porter and Golden Ale on tap - but you can also get bottles of Dead Good Beer with your meals at The Indian Café, Suter Café, La Gourmandise as well as 1.25l riggers from Fresh Choice 100 metres north of the pub on Collingwood St.

Lonely Planet 2011 picks the Free House as the best pub in Nelson! This is what the new edition of the guidebook says:
“OUR PICK: Come rejoice at this church of ales. Tastefully converted from its original, more reverent purpose; it’s now home to an excellent, oft-changing selection of NZ craft beers. You can imbibe inside or out and even bring a takeaway curry from the Indian Café opposite. Hallelujah! “

WINES & SPIRITS:
A selection of fine local wines from Blackenbrook, Greenhough, Neudorf, Richmond Plains, Te Mania, Tussock and Weka Hill. Plus a superb selection of premium Whisky, Vodka, Grappa etc.

NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS:
ON TAP: Mussel Inn Ginger Beer, Mussel Inn Lemonade, filtered water.
BOTTLED: Totara Terrace Grape Juice, Phoenix Organic Cola, Benger Juices (Apple, Apple and Boysenberry, Apple and Feijoa, Apple and Raspberry, Apricot, Nectarine), soda water, tonic water, lime juice etc.
IN CARTONS: Charlie’s Pressed Apple Juice, Charlie’s Squeezed Orange Juice.

FOOD:
Pizzas from STEFANO'S (5-9pm only), Fernando's Chorizo, Ploughmans, bowl of dolmades + artichokes + olives, bowl of mixed olives, pickled eggs, PROPER crisps, peanuts and occasionally PICKLED EGGS! OR Bring your own takeaways into the pub and we will usually provide plates, napkins and cutlery. (Sorry no McDonalds, Burger King or similar fast food outlets). If you can bring your plates etc back to the bar when you have finished eating, we will love you forever.

Nelson is at the heart of New Zealand’s hop growing region and is the epicentre of the Kiwi craft brewing industry. The Free House is Nelson’s first pub of its kind - our goal is to 'set the beers free' - meaning we aim to offer you an endlessly changing menu of local and national craft beers. We are the only pub in Nelson serving cask-conditioned real ales.

Only hand pumps in town ~ religious paint job ~ the amazing Free House Sound System.

Nelson’s first free house pub is the brainchild of Dead Good Beer Events, the creators of the ‘Nelson Beer Fêtes’ held quarterly at Founders Heritage Park and the annual MarchFest hops and music festival.

* What is a ‘free house’ ?
WIKIPEDIA: “Unlike a tied-house, a free house is a pub that is owned independently of the brewery (or breweries) that supply it. As a result, a free house can stock whichever beers it chooses from whichever breweries it chooses. Free houses are rare, the majority of pubs are tied-houses.”

The Free House was inspired by ...

Links we like:

Places to stay:

Our address is:
95 Collingwood Street, Nelson (look for the giant Mongolian yurt!) or PO Box 1975 Nelson.

Opening Hours:
Mon-Thurs: 4pm to 10-ish, Fri: 4pm to 11-ish, Sat: Midday to 11-ish, Sun: Midday to 10-ish

Our tel nos are:
03 548 9391 (opening hours), 03 548 3887 (office hours)

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