High noon will be the time for Territorians to celebrate their hard-won freedoms
AS the coronavirus pandemic grew and made its way to the Territory, the Hotel Darwin went from full service down to a limit of 300 people in their venue, to complete closure in a matter of days
Northern Territory
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ALMOST eight weeks ago, Hotel Darwin closed the doors to their famous Mitchell St venue.
As the coronavirus pandemic grew and made its way to the Territory, the Mitchell St venue went from full service down to a limit of 300 people in their venue, to complete closure in a matter of days.
But with restrictions on pubs, restaurants and cafes being lifted on Friday, serving the first beer can’t come soon enough.
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Unlike businesses such as the Deck Bar, Wisdom Bar and Cafe and Good Thanks that maintained a takeaway food service, Hotel Darwin owners Penny Phillips and Brett Lubicz decided it wouldn’t be viable to continue to operate.
“We did toy with it but weighed up it wasn’t going to be viable to offer takeaway,” Ms Phillips said.
“Being so big, it’s such an expensive venue to run just because of the size of it and the different sections.”
Ms Phillips said they hoped to open on Friday without skipping a beat, ready for Territorians to enjoy their famous beer garden, sports bar and bistro.
“It’s kind of like that really surreal feeling we had when we were closing but it’s a really good feeling,” she said.
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“From midday we’re going to be opening again, we want to run it as per normal with our Friday fish and chips special, happy hour as normal and we’ll be implementing social distancing to make sure people are safe and have a good time.”
Instead of offering a takeaway service, staff have been working on the venue to make sure it’s ready for those first schooners to be served (with a meal, of course) this Friday.
And they couldn’t be happier.
“All our outdoor furniture has been revarnished and it’s looking brand new again and the whole venue has been cleaned which took us a while to do that,” Ms Phillips said.
“We’ve scrubbed from top to bottom, nothing has ridiculously changed I guess.
“We have been doing it for a good few weeks, Brett and I would come in, water the plants and maintain it all so it’s been ready to go for a few weeks.”
Hotel Darwin will reopen at noon Friday in line with the road map to the new normal’s second stage.
Originally published as High noon will be the time for Territorians to celebrate their hard-won freedoms