Snapshot: Stepping into Middle-Earth

It’s like you’ve become a hobbit, visiting your favourite pub at the end of the day for a pint and good time with your mates.

Any Lord of the Rings fan would be ecstatic to know that a Hobbit-style bar called the Green Dragon Pub has opened in Hobbiton, near Matamata, where the LOTR films were shot. Officially opened by New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key in November last year, the bar’s development was led by Brian Massey, Art Director of the movies. A team of 80 workers were roped in to theme the pub, as well as the area around it to up the immersive experience of entering Hobbiton.

For those new to the whole Middle-Earth mania, in the LOTR story, the Green Dragon Inn was a frequent haunt of our tiny Hobbit friends from both Bywater and Hobbiton. Frodo was a fan of the inn, as were his friends, Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took. Throughout the movie, the quartet often made references to the inn, recalling it in fond memory as a great place. Let’s hope the Green Dragon Pub can live up to its Middle-Earth reputation!