Goulburn hotels get a spruce up

The plans coincide with the development of 13 executive suites adjoining the Astor Hotel across the road (above the Aldi extension).

Pubfunds Pty Ltd owns the hotels and company representative Peter Griffiths said he was keen to spruce up the ‘Tatts’.

Mr Griffiths said the renovation of the Tatts would provide a lightfilled open plan café and sports bar, new outdoor eating with north-facing beer garden, and a lavish new gaming lounge.

Goulburn Mulwaree Council approved the development application for the work recently, which also includes alterations to the Clinton St facade. The cost of the construction work has been estimated at $250,000.

“It will be a big facelift to the front of hotel and it will also have a new rear of the hotel,” Mr Griffiths said.

“We are freshening it all up. As always, we are going to be sympathetic to the heritage aspects of the place.”

The Tattersalls Hotel dates back to 1843. The council’s heritage consultant, Louise Thom, has signed off on the proposed work.

“We are basically building a new beer garden, which will have a massive 4m by 2m LED TV screen in it. This will be a great spot to watch sporting events. The pub could also have movie nights and other similar events,” Mr Griffiths said.

“We are putting in a new larger outdoor gaming lounge as well as installing a new TAB area and a new bar.

“Cutting-edge technology is also coming into the hotel. In the future we could have entertainment acts playing on the back of a truck to 1000 people in the Tatts’ car park and we could live feed it to the screens in the beer garden and pub.

“People will also be able to select songs on the jukebox by downloading an app as well as selecting the sound for what footy game is on TV to listen into it on their phones.”

Mr Griffiths said the revamp of the Tatts was happening now because the original renovation was “a bit rushed”.

“With hotels, you are always trying to keep ahead of the game,” he said. 

“When we did the original renovation of the Tatts, we rushed it a little to complete a larger project, The Royal Hotel in Queanbeyan. We focussed on that and now that pub has been sold, we (Pubfunds) wanted to come back to this place.”

He said ARW would be doing the construction work, which would be starting as soon as possible.

“The work will be done in stages so that we can keep the other parts of the hotel open. I expect it will be completed within 12 to 14 weeks,” Mr Griffiths said.

MEANWHILE, across the road in Auburn St, the development of 13 executive suites above the Aldi extension, adjoining the Astor Hotel is also underway.

“We are building (13) room serviced apartments called the Astor Suites, above the extended Aldi extension. These will be fourstar rated, so we will be able to appeal to the whole spectrum of commercial or other travellers,” Mr Griffiths said.

“We have had the Astor Hotel for nine years now and we have really enjoyed owning it. It has been a great business, but the motel rooms are 55 years old and getting tired, so we will be tidying up some of the existing rooms as well.

“The new suites will be a mix of studio and other apartments, some with kitchenettes, designed for short stays. We are really excited about it.”

He said the work was expected to be completed on the Astor Suites by April this year.

PUBFUNDS also owns the Exchange Hotel, in Bradley St, which is presently operating as an accommodation-only venue.

Mr Griffiths said there were no firm plans in relation to that hotel at this time.

“We want to do something down there, but we are not sure what. We are working out a plan of attack for the Exchange, which is trading for accommodation only at the moment,” he said.

“Our focus is to operate these two hotels (Tatts and Astor) and if we can do something at the Exchange then we will, or if we can come up with a concept and pass it on - we will.”