Music to ears of punters
THE Geelong Hotel will be reconfigured into more intimate spaces under its new operators’ moves to reinvigorate the Yarra St venue.
A late-night bar will be launched early next month as part of a plan that also includes regularly using the former nightclub upstairs as a live venue for touring and local bands.
Owners of The Inn Hotel — Mat Dyer, Dean Trembath, Max McKay and former Geelong Cats player Corey Enright — took over the lease of the hotel a few weeks ago.
Mr Trembath said the plan was to make smaller spaces that appealed to different demographics.
“The main thing is, how do you make a big space more intimate,” he said.
Work is expected to start today to redo the floors before the introduction of more booth-style seating on the southern side of the hotel, between the two courtyard areas.
Other cosmetic changes are in store for the bar, which will be separated from a small wine bar at the front of the hotel and the existing dining area, and better connected to the rooftop bar.
“We will be changing the configuration of the beer gar- den upstairs to make it more accessible to sit up there and eat,” Mr Trembath said.
“For an outdoor dining experience in spring and summer, it’s going to be really good.”
He said the band room, which had a capacity for about 450, required some work to have it ready for live acts.
“We want to make sure it is engaged fortnightly so there is a live music scene in Geelong,” Mr Trembath said.
The four business partners have been running The Inn for the past two years.
Enright said the Geelong Hotel, a name previously attached to a hotel in Moorabool St that was no longer there, was a brand that had been around a long time.
“It’s a good brand, and a good place for us to come in and put our spin on it,” he said.
“We think it’s a wonderful location.”
Mr Dyer said the late-night trade would target the over-25s and would initially be open Saturday with a view to adding Friday nights in the future.
He said there was no plan to reopen the former nightclub operations, which would only be used as a band room.