Pints and punches: medieval combat nights pull the crowds

A night of armoured fighting and beer-drinking has become popular at a small Northcote bar.

‘Beers and Brawls’ is run monthly by Auckland Armoured Combat, an amateur sports team that specialises in Buhurt – a brutal medieval style fighting sport involving real steel armour, blunt weapons, and no-holds-barred clashes.

Team captain and Vice President of Historical Medieval Battle New Zealand, Colm O’B, says the sport is growing fast in Tāmaki Makaurau.

“We’ve had more people showing up every month, wanting to try it out or just watch — the interest is definitely growing,” he says.

Auckland Armoured Combat compete in Buhurt tournaments both nationally and internationally, but ‘Beers and Brawls’ brings the action home for a more local crowd.

Attendees enjoy live-action fighting over a cold pint and are given roses to throw towards the favourite fighter at the end of each round- a theatrical nod to medieval tradition.

O’B, who began fighting after moving to New Zealand from Ireland in 2019, says the community is one of the biggest drawcards.

“When I came here, I knew absolutely nobody — now I’m lucky enough to have friends all over the country,” he says.

“It’s a really tight-knit community. Basically, we’re all nerds at heart.”

Operations manager at The Beerspot, Melanie Harper, says the collaboration has been also great for business.

“We usually do around $2–3k on a Wednesday,” she says.

“On a fight night, we’re making closer to $7k.”

Northcote’s ‘The Beerspot’ has now hosted five ‘Beers and Brawls’ events. Photo: Supplied

She describes the crowd atmosphere as “electric” and says the event has grown with every instalment so far.

“We’ve started having to turn people away at the door.”

The Beerspot says they hope to take ‘Beers & Brawls’ to other venues across Auckland, with hopes to keep the momentum and pints flowing.