The registered historic place was without a proprietor and the Macraes Community Trust, with the help of the Otago Daily Times, put out a call for the community's next publican.
Trust member Mat O'Connell said 23 official applications, including two from Australia, had been received by the closing date of noon yesterday.
Inquiries were still being received.
He could not put an exact number on how many inquiries had been made but said he had had more than 40 himself. Interest was mainly from older couples.
''There's probably half a dozen that I know of with two to three kids,'' Mr O'Connell said.
''The trust is going through them ... [and] we're going to get a shortlist together.''
About five or six applications would be shortlisted and it was hoped to have interviews completed by the end of the week and a new publican in place by the end of next month.
''A lot of people would like a month's notice [but] we need to keep pushing along,'' Mr O'Connell said.
The lease comes with the hotel business, a manager's residence, 2.2ha of land and tourism business opportunities, all for nothing.
''The sooner we get someone appointed, the sooner we can get started,'' he said.
