Changing Times

TWEED PUB RISES FROM ASHES TO ROUSING RECEPTION

Posted on September 11th, 2015 by Clyde Mooney
Tweed district sweetheart, the Mount Warning Hotel, has reopened to a veritable horde of adoring patrons. The original two-storey timber structure, one of the Tweed Valley’s oldest pubs, burned to the ground in February 2013 – the year it would

LAST DRINKS AT LANSDOWNE’S FINAL GIG

Posted on September 4th, 2015 by Clyde Mooney
[caption id="attachment_3605" align="alignright" width="443"] DZ deathrays[/caption] One of Sydney’s most famous live music venues will host its ‘Last Call’ mega-gig next weekend. The heritage-listed Lansdowne Hotel, on City Road, off Sydney’s Broadway, announced it will close as a pub, after

CELEBRITY CHEF BUYS GASTROPUB TO SELL BEER

Posted on August 31st, 2015 by Clyde Mooney
Celebrity chef Sean Donovan has bought the Town Hall Hotel business in Fitzroy, with plans to improve its standing as a place “to get a beer”. Operated for the last five years by Melbourne chef Harry Lilai and wife Michelle,

THE LANSDOWNE CLOSES BUT THE MUSIC PLAYS ON

Posted on August 5th, 2015 by Clyde Mooney
Another pub icon of Sydney’s live music scene will close – to reopen as a breeding ground for musicians and performers. One of the original ‘sticky carpet’ pubs, hosting a myriad of bands and kick-starting countless careers in music, the

RYANS RAISE THE ROOF ON THE REPUBLIC

Posted on August 3rd, 2015 by Clyde Mooney
Patrick Ryan has lifted the lid on his chic CBD hotel renovation, with an amazing new roof-less bar atop the four-storey Pitt St pub. The Republic Hotel has come to attract an upmarket clientele of suits and business class customers

IMPERIAL HOTEL DEAD AS FLAWED LOCKOUT LOGIC LOOMS

Posted on July 27th, 2015 by Clyde Mooney
Erskineville’s Imperial Hotel has closed indefinitely as the spectre of ‘lockouts’ logic seeps into suburban scapegoats. It took just three months for new operators Spice Group to lose control of an institutional venue as it became a hot-spot for Sydney’s

ALH’S BURVALE HOTEL DODGES PROTECTION ORDER

Posted on July 24th, 2015 by Clyde Mooney
A hotel built in 1968 is finally free to be redeveloped after a bizarre battle to protect it under a heritage order. Languishing on an enormous 45,000 square metre block on the outskirts of Melbourne, the hotel was designed by

OVERHAULED BELLEVUE LOOKING MORE BEAUTIFUL

Posted on July 22nd, 2015 by Clyde Mooney
One of the best-loved pubs in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs has re-opened following an unexpectedly comprehensive overhaul. Seven months ago the new owners of Paddington’s Bellevue Hotel, WDS Group, fronted by industry veteran Steven Speed, began a timely make-over of the

PUB LANDMARK TO OVERHAUL IN “VERY COMPETITIVE” PERTH

Posted on July 13th, 2015 by Clyde Mooney
West Australian hotel industry stalwart Neil Randall is overhauling his beloved pub to “keep up with the trend” in the dynamic Perth hospitality market. The Paddo Ale House is a Perth institution and has been operated since 1987 by AHA

PLANS FOR LIVING IN THE EDGY

Posted on July 10th, 2015 by Clyde Mooney
One of Victoria’s beloved pubs will become modern apartments – but the building will remain intact largely courtesy of the ground roots movement to save it. Mentone’s Mentone Hotel – formerly the Edgewater Hotel and popularly known as ‘The Edgy’