Shut hotel back in days

Kermandie’s lifeline during summer fires to reopen after sudden closure

AN iconic Tasmanian pub that hosted firefighters during the summer bushfire crisis will reopen within a fortnight after being closed for several months.

The Kermandie Waterfront Hotel in Port Huon shut suddenly in May after weathering flames almost at its back door in January, leaving some Huon Valley locals without a watering hole for miles.

Owner Sean Langman — a champion Sydney to Hobart yachtsman and businessman — said issues with the tenants forced its closure, but the hotel would reopen within 10 days.

Mr Langman — who also owns the Port Huon Marina — said the pub would operate as a directorship tenancy going forward, as it had previously.

“We leased it out for a period of three years and 18 months into the tenancy it was fairly evident that things needed to change,” he said.

“We used the past eight weeks to do major kitchen, car park and electrical upgrades, and a general sprucing up.”

Mr Langman said there would be no grand reopening, they would just “put the open sign out the front and get on with business”.

The hotel’s operators remained open for locals during the summer when the massive Huon Valley blaze shut the highway south of Huonville.

They also accommodated firefighters battling the fire and Mercury reporters and photographers. Mr Langman wouldn’t elaborate on the reasons behind the closure but said the majority of staff would remain the same, including the head chef.

Mr Langman and business partner Christopher Stannard gave the hotel — built in 1932 — a major facelift after they purchased it in the early 2000s.