Next move for Kin Kin Hotel after huge renovation

The Kin Kin Hotel is getting ready to reopen after 12 months of renovations. Now the hunt for a well paid general manager has started.

​The Kin Kin Hotel is getting ready to reopen after 12 months of renovations.

After closing the doors in April of 2022, management of the Kin Kin Hotel, nestled in the Noosa hinterland, have announced the iconic pub’s imminent grand reopening.

A job advertisement for general manager has been posted on seek.com.au, with a salary of between $100,000 and $120,000.

Owner David Ezrine said the pub had remained closed longer than was first expected because they did not want to cut any corners in the refurbishment.

“We are working on renovations to ensure the pub will last another 100 years,” Mr Ezrine said.

Built in 1915, the new owners of the pub want to “restore the original heritage hotel back to its former glory”.

Mr Ezrine and Matthew Flynn bought the hotel in May 2021 for $1.1 million through Craig Clark at CRE brokers, reinstating its original name and ruffling a few local feathers.

For 50 years, the pub was called The Country Life Hotel, after it was bought by David Tresize in 1972, however, prior to that — from when it was built — it was called the Kin Kin Hotel.

While trying to preserve the hotel’s heritage, some of the original infrastructure was just too dangerous to keep.

“Infrastructure in the main building was falling down; we had to completely replace the veranda,” Mr Ezrine said.

The renovations were also impacted by the pandemic and the 2022 floods.

“Water was up above our knees,” he said.

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The renovations will also protect the hotel from future flooding events – a necessary move after both the 2022 and 2009 flooding devastated the region.

The Kin Kin Hotel was devastated by the 2009 flood. Photo: Jason Davies.

“There has been so many variables to why the pub has been closed for as long as it has. We are only now at the stage where we are focusing on operations and recruiting,” Mr Ezrine said.

Without a running pub, the hotel has not had the capacity for a general manager over the past year.

“There has been a decent amount of interest in the ad (for a general manager).”

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The successful candidate must be “passionate about delivering genuinely outstanding customer experiences” in what will be a ”renowned heritage venue in a spectacular hinterland village location”.

“We need a really good manager to lead our staff. We won’t settle until we have the ‘full’ right team in place for the reopening.

“We can’t give a time frame on the opening, only that we are diligently moving forward.

“We will not compromise. We want the pub to be something that the community can be proud of, and is worth waiting for.”

When the doors finally reopen, the hotel has promised to bring “a fresh approach to the dining experience” with a “focus on local provenance, seasonality and curated dining”.

Hoping that it will “draw in locals, as well as regional and interstate visitors,” the pub aims provide a place for “families and friends to reconnect and share in real experiences, free of gaming, gambling and televisions.”