Having blasted its way through the challenges of recent years, the owners of Collingwood’s legendary live music pub The Tote are looking for someone to take over the mantle.
Built in 1870, the hotel was known as the Ivanhoe Hotel until 1981, when it was rechristened The Tote.
It holds 520sqm in the heart of Melbourne, with capacity for up to 408-pax, and a late-night licence.
For the past four decades it has built an enviable reputation for showcasing live gigs in the band room. Countless local and international acts, emerging artists and garage wanna-bes have played the grungy, iconic space. There has been no shortage of current or future Australian legends, including Paul Kelly, Painters and Dockers, You Am I, Jet, Spiderbait – who say the pub was “vital” to their existence.
But in 2010 a change to licensing laws designated The Tote a ‘high-risk’ venue. This brought considerable additional insurance and security costs, and after running out of money licensee Bruce Milne was forced to close the doors.
Only weeks later, around 20k Melburnians turned up at the Save Live Australian Music rally to protest the new restrictions, amongst them plenty of patrons of The Tote.
Six months after its closure, the team of Sam Crupi, Jon Perring and (the late) Andy Portokallis stepped up to carry on the legacy.
The pub continued its legend until soon before the COVID disruption when Andy was lost to cancer. The business was no exception to the struggles of pubs and live music throughout the pandemic, and financial hurdles presented themselves, bringing a delay to pay staff superannuation for more than a year.
Melbourne’s extended lockdown periods saw venue operators, including the owners of The Tote, launch GoFundMe campaigns to help stay in operation. Crupi and Perring relayed the business was “financially crushed by the COVID-19 shutdown”.
Two years later, having fought to regain a stable footing, this week the proprietors dropped news on social media that the business was for sale.
A campaign through Miglic Dean Real Estate’s Richard Miglic is marketing the asset, with land and building, but it is suggested the pub needs to broaden its business model to remain relevant.
The vendors say they will be looking ‘favourably’ at proposals incorporating a live music component, and believe there is plenty of opportunity around the addition of food service or a brewhouse. The property is suited to a mixed development, but details on zoning, FSR, and height limit have not been provided.
In the immediate future, The Tote will continue to host gigs until new owners are found and take possession, which they hope will be in coming months.
Explaining that they simply have “no petrol left in the tank” the hard-rocking publicans feel the time is right to move on.
“It’s time for someone else to take it on with renewed enthusiasm and vision now COVID is behind us.”
The freehold going concern of The Tote Collingwood is being sold via Expressions of Interest, closing Thursday, 6 April.
