Montague Hotel, West End, applies to build rooftop bar

One of Brisbane’s most beloved watering holes has applied to build a new attraction set to make it even more popular and will literally take it to new heights.

Ryland Gilbert and Natasha Riddell at The Montague Hotel which has applied to build a rooftop bar. Picture: Richard Walker

The new owners of the popular Montague Hotel in West End have applied to build two rooftop bars with landscaped courtyard, one year after scooping up the venue for a cool $20m.

But there won’t be any more car spaces for “The Monty’’, as it’s affectionately known, making it even more of a challenge to find a street park.

Public consultation began on November 25 for the extension, which would replace the top-level office area with two subtropical bars featuring an automated louvred roof.

As well as the two new bars and courtyard area on level one, there would be a 3m-high acoustic barrier to shield neighbours from noise, new street-front glazing and a lift for better accessibility.

A noise report by consultants Palmer Acoustics said amplified music from the outdoor rooftop area would be about 35-40 decibels at the nearest unit in Kurilpa Residential Tower, 31m away.

Artist's impression of how the rooftop bar could look.

Trading hours would be unchanged, from 10am to midnight, but the rooftop area would need to close by 10pm.

The design met council noise guidelines but the Office of Liquor Gaming and Regulation would need to sign off on allowable noise levels, which would then become a condition of the hotel license.

The pub, which boasted a 4.5 out of five Tripadvisor rating, was packed out every Friday night and on weekends.

The Montague Hotel in West End has applied to build a rooftop-level bar area with louvred roof.

When it sold early last year agent Paul Fraser from CBRE said the huge valuation, up from the $3.15m Platinum 4101 paid for the former office building six years ago, reflected the boost likely to be provided by Pradella’s huge The Lanes residential project and the nearby Olympics media centre.

There was no planned expansion of the 787 sqm corner site, at 363 Montague Rd, with the owners MWE Hotels saying street-front barriers and awnings would be temporary to allow a future council 2.5m road widening.

The “Monty’’ already has sports and lounge bar areas, three detached bottle shops, a bistro, gaming room, commercial kitchen and 11 basement car parks.

There are 10 gaming machines with current approvals for a total of 18 South East Queensland operating authorities.

The venue first opened in 2017.

For more details or to lodge a submission visit council’s online development application portal developmenti and search for 363 Montague Rd or application A004322354