It’s full steam ahead at Laundy Hotels’ legendary Woolloomooloo ‘Woolly’ Bay Hotel following a subdued reopening to the pub’s $14 million redesign and fit-out.
The internationally known Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel has stood sentry looking out to Middle Harbour since 1873.
Laundy Hotels bought the freehold from the Medich family’s Halcyon Group in 2015 and took control of operations from ALH mid-2018.
For more than a year it has been in the throes of a staged bottom-to-top makeover courtesy of a Luchetti Krelle design that welcomes new interior offerings and a brand-new rooftop bar.
Brief on the project was to create spaces “to be enjoyed all day long” offering complementary menus littered with cocktails and share plates.
The result is a design that embraces the Hotel’s waterfront position through a Mediterranean motif, using blue mosaic tiles, marble in the lift, terrazzo and swirling granite, and a hand-sponged exterior paint finish to simulate rippled granite.
At street level the public bar strives to be a comfortable, ‘at-home’ vibe, centred around a large fireplace, skirted by floor-to-ceiling French doors looking out onto Cowper Wharf Road.
On the first floor is the new Arturo’s restaurant, seating 100 people for casual dining, named in an Hispanic nod to patriarch Arthur Laundy.
But the centrepiece of the three-storey makeover is the vertical extension to create Arturo’s Rooftop, which Justine Laundy, creative director for the group, says was in part motivated by post-pandemic patrons wanting more open, outdoor spaces.
A DA for the space was hard-fought by the previous owners, reaching the Land & Environment Court, and its creation involved adding a further floor to the original structure.
Providing capacity for 120-pax, the glass-encased rooftop area is inspired by a ‘Grecian beach club’, featuring a latticed bamboo covering, tiled tabletops and quartzite pavers, serving dining menu highlights and offering sweeping views of the Art Gallery of NSW and Woolloomooloo Bay.
The Laundy group took the AHA NSW Award this week for Best Metropolitan Development for its rebuild of Penrith’s iconic Log Cabin, and with a pipeline of greenfield builds in the works is also planning more sky-facing additions to other pubs in the portfolio.
Tipping the next to be Drummoyne’s Oxford Hotel, which the family bought mid-2019, Justine says the rooftop renos are being planned wherever the pub has a view “and it’s not going to annoy the neighbours”.
Meanwhile, she reports dad is very pleased with the outcome at one of his most iconic assets.
“He goes there all the time, and says hello to everyone. He really considers it one of his babies.”
