James Ingram counts 21 hotels in Balmain and Rozelle before pausing for a quick lament: “There used to be 47.” The hotelier and restaurateur, responsible for one of the area’s pub jewels, will reopen the Dry Dock on November 30.

The hotel has traded at its current site since 1867. Now, after a year-long makeover, the new Dry Dock is a polished yet timeless revamp that references its past.

Ingram talks about the pub’s history through the “rough and tumble” decades of the 6 o’clock swill and its early years as a gold rush-era boozer near the gates to the long-closed dry dock and shipyards, once the largest private employer in the colony.

He is encyclopaedic about Balmain’s new demographics, its buildings and even the pub’s neighbours. The Dry Dock is 350 metres from the wharf, then a 13-minute ferry ride to Circular Quay.

Ingram would be an asset to anyone’s pub trivia team given his experience working at a roll-call of seminal Sydney restaurants, from Berowra Waters Inn to Oasis Seros. He also helped open turn-of-the-century Darlinghurst venue International.

Ingram and his Peninsula Hospitality business partner Mike Everett have assembled a seasoned team. GM Dom Vaughan comes via Rockpool Group, sommelier Christiane Poulos trod the boards at Bennelong, and the Dry Dock’s 100-seat dining room is under the watch of former Felix head chef Ben Sitton.

The menu jumps from duck liver parfait to glazed sweet and sour eggplant, and a prawn cocktail served in a dessert bowl. “I’ve cooked with fire for a long time, but this is my first time with a Josper grill,” Sitton says. “It uses less fuel but produces great heat.”

He uses it to grill squash and zucchini (served with a tarragon dressing) and steak frites, which you can order throughout the pub.

The Dry Dock is serious about its gastro credentials, even selling off its poker machines, although there is a smart sports bar. Ingram, with the help of designer Bianca Isgro, of Studio Isgro, paid particular attention to the public and lounge bars.

“We used aged brass, zinc, and steel strapping, which is a bit of a nod to the old docks,” Ingram says. They’ve enclosed the open-air courtyard and created a leafy nook that frames the dining room. It’s a site built to last, hopefully for another 156 years.

Open: Public House Mon-Sat 11am-midnight, Sun 11am-10pm; Dining Room lunch and dinner daily.

22 Cameron Street, Balmain, 02 9555 1306, thedrydock.com.au