Conquering challenges including vandals, secret doors and moving staircases, Riverland Group will soon reopen the historic and surprising Railway Hotel of Brunswick.
Beginning life in the 1880s, the four-level Hotel has seen chapters where it served as a hostel, as a television studio, a bookmaker’s office, and even as a part-time morgue.
Beyond the mere addition in the ’70s of a bottleshop added without planning approval, the pub is keeper of many secrets, such as the shower in one upstairs room, where turning the soap dispenser opens a door to a freight elevator that could be used to run things upstairs undetected.
There is also a curved stairwell leading to the very top floor, where a section can move to reveal a concealed, finished space big enough for several people.
Below street level, the basement boasts ornate brick archways. It maintains a low average temperature and has been converted into the pub’s keg room. For the same reason, historical accounts suggest it was once used to store bodies.
Some have said there’s a ghost in there.
Ending its most recent incarnation, trumpeting electronic dance music, in 2016 landlord Chris Lytras and two managers were arrested, after selling cocaine and crystal meth onsite to undercover police officers. Lytras was subsequently jailed for 10 years.
The pub closed and soon became a haven for vandals and homeless people.
Late 2017 Riverland Group, operators of Riverland, The Boatbuilders Yard, Pilgrim, General Assembly and Bang Bang at the Rifle Club, took on the lease, forced to provide police and council a plan of management to prevent it catering to the same clientele.
Riverland Group co-owner Richie Ludbrook says by the time they took possession, all windows were broken, floorboards were missing, every wall had been spraypainted and every staircase burned.
“It was a wreck.”
Clearing the necessary hurdles, the team was preparing for a reopening in early 2020 until the pandemic halted progress for another year, during which time squatters moved back in and vandals broke all the glass again and helped themselves to all the new wiring that had been installed.
Seeing trade still down across the group, the revised set-back cast a shadow over the Railway’s future.
Since then, friend of 25 years Mick Molloy has bought into the pub, and after six years dry it is set to reopen as The Railway on 11 March.
The historic facade has been retained, and the original entrance, which had been bricked up, has been restored.
Enjoying capacity of 960-pax and licensed until 3am, the reimagined layout by Melbourne architect Therefore Studio is said to be a moody, late-night option, with indoor and outdoor bars, an 80-seat dining room serving a charcoal-grilled Mediterranean menu, and a “vinyl-spinning cocktail bar”.
The “approachable” main bar is found through the old horse stables, alongside a collection of communal spaces, including a huge, family-friendly beer garden that will be used as an extension of the dining room.
Riverland’s goal is to reposition the Railway into a welcoming, community hub.
This will be furthered with the addition of function areas and budget office space in the upstairs rooms, in the coming months.
