Historic Ed Castle Hotel on brink because of neighbouring development
ONE of the city’s oldest pubs — opened just five months after Adelaide was founded — could close by the end of the month. Find out why the Edinburgh Castle Hotel’s owner fears the grand old pub will no longer be viable.
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ONE of the oldest pubs in Adelaide is in danger of not lasting past the end of this month because of the construction of a neighbouring development.
The owner of the Edinburgh Castle Hotel on Currie St, which has the oldest trading license in Adelaide having received it on May 31 1837, says his pub is on its knees because of the flow on effect from the construction of a $80 million, 772-bed student accommodation complex in Gray St.
Tony Bond says the short term future “isn’t particularly rosy” for the historic pub — which doesn’t have pokies and significantly relies on live music — as works halt deliveries and have led to reduced hours, loss of staff and a considerable downturn in turnover.
“It’s been very tough and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better,” he said.
“I don’t know if we are going to see the month out in all honesty.”
The frustration Mr Bond has felt culminated in a Facebook post on the hotel’s page earlier this week, detailing all the issues his hotel was facing because of the construction work combined with on-the-street gas works.
This included a digger blocking the fire exit, which he said was poor traffic management, and a loss of the hotel’s car park and loading zones.
He said that without available loading zones, four deliveries on Wednesday could not be made — including beer.
“The only loading bay they could have used was two streets away in Franklin St,” he said.
“So we literally can’t get a beer delivery.”
This led to a buyer, who was lined up to purchase the pub, falling through last week.
The hotel is now back on the market.
Mr Bond said he wasn’t against development, and that the builders had been very receptive to the issues he faced, but said more thought needed to be directed towards the impacts long-term and large-scale developments had on businesses and residents in the area.
“What I would like to see is the companies that do this major development put maybe one per cent of the value of the works into a sink fund to assist local businesses and residents,” he said.
Adelaide City councillor Houssam Abiad, who has been in regular contact with Mr Bond regarding the pub’s issues, said the council might be able advocate to the State Government to go down that path.
“The Edinburgh Castle is a very important small business in the City of Adelaide,” he said.
“Once the development is complete hopefully they can take advantage of the hundreds of people living right next door.”
Synergy Construct are building the student accommodation for Singaporean developer Wee Hur.
Business director Michael Gramazio said the company had already provided solutions to issues the Edinburgh Castle had raised in the past, such as maintaining the solid fence dividing the venue and the accommodation at significant cost.
“We will continue to support the Edinburgh Castle as best we can with patronage and are open to ideas on how we may be able to support the venue further, for example through promotions to our team members and sub contractors — which will exceed 250 individuals on site each day in the coming months as the project increases intensity,” he said.