Bakers Creek Tavern renovation to include service station, childcare centre
A Bruce Highway pub shut its doors to patrons in May with little fanfare. Now major plans for the site which include a new childcare and service station can be revealed.
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A Mackay pub founded in the 1880s could soon be revamped if ambitious plans which include a new service station and childcare centre are approved.
The Bakers Creek Tavern, as it stands today, was rebuilt in the 1980s and is now in need of a refit.
The tavern with its attached drive through bottle-o, located on a 1.56ha lot just off the Bruce Highway at 1 Matsen St via Contor Dr, has been shut for seven months.
A Facebook post on May 14 stated it was for renovations.
Schweitzer Investments Pty Ltd has since submitted a development application which unveils a plan to subdivide the existing lot into three parcels.
Documents state the pub would undergo renovations, while no specific details were proposed, in addition to the building of a new childcare centre and services station.
“Proposed lot 1, 3,208sq m, will accommodate the proposed childcare centre,” documents state.
“Lot 2, 3,883sq m, will accommodate the existing tavern and bottle shop (and) Lot 3, 8,430sq m, (the) proposed service station/truck stop.
“Subdivision of the site into three lots, with necessary, reciprocal access easements, (will accommodate) accommodate the existing (and proposed) uses.”
Documents state the build would be delivered over two stages, with Stage 1 being the “reconfiguration of the site” and the service station development.
Stage 2 comprises the proposed childcare centre, with six play rooms to accommodate its 130 places and outdoor playground.
“(The) 1,065sq m (playground) will be fully fenced and secured, and will be visually and acoustically buffered from the truck parking area within the adjacent service station/truck stop, by way of a 3m high acoustic barrier,” plans state.
An entrance off the Bruce Highway will offer access for motorists to the tavern, bottle shop, and servo, while the childcare entrance will be tucked into the quieter Matsen St.
Bakers Creek Tavern already has several small rooms frequented mostly by long-distance truck drivers.
The servo would cater to both domestic vehicles and truck and tanker refuelling and operate 24/7.
Documents state an “old dwelling house” in the northwestern corner of the lot has “recently been demolished”.
If approved, the Bakers Creek service station would become the 10th along the Bruce Highway from Rosella to the CBD.
The application follows 19 other proposals for new service stations submitted to Mackay Regional Council over the past five years.
This includes a proposal to demolish three houses near the Botanic Gardens which some commenters said was fuelled by greed rather than convenience.
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