Two hours free parking could return to Hamilton CBD

St Patrick's Day is falling on Tuesday 17th March. From breakfast through to late night celebrations, Hamilton's central city has everything you need for an unforgettable day.

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Start your morning with Live Music | Biddy Mulligans | Hamilton (17 Hood Street) with a legendary Irish Breakfast from 8:30am to 1pm. Tickets are $20 pre-sale from the bar or $25 on the day, and the entertainment keeps rolling all day long.

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You can head to Lucky Finns (26 Hood Street) from 8am for their special breakfast menu, premium Irish whiskeys, Guinness, Magners cider, traditional Irish food, and live music throughout the day.

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In the evening, The Mercury Room (15 Hood Street) have their $20 St Patrick's Special from 6pm to 11pm where you can choose a pint of Guinness and pizza or a Mojito and pizza. Either way, you're onto a winner.

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Why not rally your mates and book a St Patrick’s Bottomless Brunch for $59pp at House on Hood (27 Hood Street). DJs, themed and prizes up for grabs across two sessions from 6:30pm, this is one not to be missed.

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A full lunch and dinner menu is available at The Londoner plus some special St Patrick's Day dishes including steak, Guinness and cheese pie, corned beef, melted cheese, slaw and honey mustard bun, steak and Guinness hot pot, colcannon, Irish whiskey bread & butter pudding with salted caramel and whisky sauce! There will also be a random prize draw and main Guiness prize draw at 7pm.

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The arts and entertainment sector in Hamilton began 2026 with a hiss and a roar, with numerous major events happening - mainly at the new BNZ Theatre.

But any impression it was going off the boil following a series of big-name concerts at the theatre, as well as the Hamilton Arts Festival and this weekend’s Homegrown festival, would be false.

The schedule at the BNZ Theatre is being frequently added to by a succession of announcements. One of the latest is a May 17 concert in which the Waikato’s own Opus Orchestra will get their first opportunity to test the venue’s acoustics.

Featuring pianist Stephen De Pledge and conducted by Peter Walls, it is described as “an afternoon of orchestral and vocal drama” that pairs Gillian Karawe Whitehead’s landmark New Zealand opera The Journey of Mataatua Whare (performed in concert form) with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 (popularly known as The Emperor).

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The WSA school holiday programmes have been running for many years now. They are tutored by experienced and qualified art tutors with no more than 8 students per tutor and a maximum of 16 students in total per day.

These run from 9am to 12pm, Monday to Friday with every day having different activities for 5-12 year olds.

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Hamilton developer Matt Stark says he is in no rush to find a tenant for one of the city centre’s largest remaining development sites, as he searches for a major occupier for the former Federated Farmers block.

The Stark Property director outlined his vision for the Tristram and London Street site - touted as one of the largest commercial land sales in the central city - to attendees on a behind the fence tour of their adjoining Fonterra office development on Thursday.

The landholding, purchased by Stark Property in April 2025, includes the six-storey Farmer Trust building, existing tenanted buildings, car-parks, and vacant land.

“We don’t really have many large parcels of land left in the city, so we thought it was a great option to buy this,” Stark said.

He said the Waikato Farmers Trust building, first opened in 1968, would be getting a face lift to meet demand for refurbished space in the central city.

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