More than three years after growing the group with purchase of Rozelle’s 3 Weeds, Merivale has quietly reopened the inner west former Rose.
Hemmes’ outfit reports trading is “going well” since the soft-launch last week, and locals are returning, again embracing it as the local meeting place.
“Merivale is proud to be a part of the Rozelle community.”
Exercising a diverse growth strategy, Merivale picked up the pub in early 2019.
Set on an 880sqm lot around four kilometres west of the Sydney CBD, the 1881-built watering hole was long branded the Rose Shamrock & Thistle Hotel until new owners renamed it the 3 Weeds in 2006. It has developed a reputation as a high-end dining establishment.
In its revised incarnation, the Weeds public bar is on the traditional corner of the building, providing classic décor and a simple pub-style menu. It is largely unchanged bar all new fixtures and fittings.
The remainder of the building is occupied by Merivale dining installation Totti’s – a casual Italian eatery with a focus on simple, delicious food, best enjoyed shared, first appearing at the group’s Royal Hotel in Bondi.
Executive chef Mike Eggert’s menu features all the signatures, including Totti’s popular wood-fired bread and antipasti, handmade pastas, and chicken and fish dishes cooked in a Josper charcoal oven.
Known for lavish overhauls and floor-to-ceiling rebrands, 3 Weeds is one of the most subdued openings the group has ever done, which is explained by a deliberate effort to restore the renowned meeting place and create somewhere to simply “pull up and hang out” for a couple of beers.
In fact, one local remarked that the place “almost looks too much like” the old pub.
Justin Hemmes told PubTIC The Weeds is part of hallowed ground, and let slip a “locals’ hack” that residents have already tapped into, ordering Totti’s at the public bar.
“It’s a wonderful historic pub, and we wanted to restore the local for the locals,” he says.
