The East Brunswick Hotel (once the East Brunswick Club) will ring to the sound of live music for the first time since 2012 after reopening last week.

It has undergone its second renovation in less than three years. The first, in 2015, saw the once-dilapidated band room given a shiny, sticky-carpet-stripping reboot. It operated for just a short time before closing and sitting vacant for 18 months. In late 2017, property developer Scott Didier, a hospitality newcomer, bought it for $4.4 million. He will run the pub with his children.

The latest renovation is more of a refresh. Built over three floors, the pub features an underground private dining room and cellar, a ground-level public bar (with industrial-style exposed roof beams and a John Farnham mural), and upstairs cocktail bar and balcony. There are also 12 freshly refitted apartments.

As an ode to the great bands that have played at the pub over the years, such as Jet, Angus and Julia Stone and Regurgitator, the stage in the public bar has been restored. The East Brunswick Hotel will again host live music from Thursdays through to Sundays.

Food is a little more upmarket than your standard pub fare. Alongside a fried chicken burger and the signature one-pound (450-gram) meatball on potato mash are dishes such as ale-steamed mussels with bacon and garlic bread, a soba noodle salad bowl, and a vegan pulled "pork" dish.

Almost all the beer and cider is Australian and the wine is mostly local, too.

Didier has also bought the retail space beside the East Brunswick Hotel, with plans to extend the pub in future.

Open daily 11am-1am.

280 Lygon Street, Brunswick East, 03 9381 5840
, eastbrunswickhotel.com.au