Iconic CBD pub will close, falling victim to COVID-related restrictions

One of Brisbane CBD’s most iconic pubs will serve its last schooner in December after its Sydney-based owners announced its closure.

Brisbane’s iconic Stock Exchange Hotel on Edward St in the CBD will close, falling victim to COVID-related restrictions.

Sydney-based owners The Riversdale Group, announced they would serve their last customers on December 13, after eight years at the helm.

The Stock Exchange Hotel, Brisbane City.

“The Riversdale Group would like to take this opportunity to thank our valued customers, suppliers and contractors who have supported us over the years. We are especially proud of the experience our dedicated team has always delivered to our guests,” the group said in an official statement.

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Management refused to comment further on the closure, however, staff said the venue had been forced to operate at less than 30 per cent capacity with COVID restrictions and needed to be operating at 100 per cent to survive.

They said while the venue had been busy recently, it simply wasn’t enough, and revealed the government’s changes this week to the rules allowing more diners in venues was too little too late.

Stock Exchange Hotel, Brisbane CBD.

Thirty staff will lose their jobs with the closure, with one employee saying “It’s not a nice Christmas for us all”.

The pub was originally opened in 1863 and was bought by the Riversdale Group in 2012, when they relaunched it as The Stock Exchange Hotel.