Lakes Creek Hotel owners Josh Dillon and Sally Knight share plans to reopen a family pub in 2022

The new owners of the Lakes Creek Hotel reveal their plans about opening the venue as a family hotel. Full details here.

Even freezers full of meat that have been turned off for three years haven’t deterred the new owners of the Lakes Creek Hotel, Josh Dillon and Sally Knight.

The couple managed to snag the North Rockhampton hotel after another contract fell through.

The pair took over ownership in late September and since then have begun the huge clean up, having taken more than 50 truck loads of rubbish to the dump so far.

“It was very rundown, that is sort of what we do, we enjoy doing that,” Mr Dillon said.

Sally Knight and Josh Dillion bought the Lakes Creek Hotel in September 2020 and are in the process of doing huge renovations.

The hotel closed in 2018 and it is clear the doors were just closed and the place wasn’t cleaned out – as the freezers were still full of meat and there was still full beer kegs at the bar and in storage.

The power had been switched off for more than three years, leaving a lovely surprise for the new owners.

When the couple went to look at the hotel when they were considering buying it, Mr Dillon, who is builder by trade, was sold on the strong structure of the place.

“We went straight to the bones and the bones are still solid, we believe we got it for the right price and it came with eight pokie authorities, that was the carrot that sealed the deal,” he said.

“There is damage here from lack of maintenance, like on the corners of the building there are no downpipes, the gutters are broken where it’s been coming down for the last 10 years.

“There is a lot of materialistic work to bring it back, a love of labour.”

The last major works at the hotel were in 1992, when the outdoor area and bottle shop was constructed.

“We have pulled a lot of stuff out of here that has been done over the years not compliant, so we have the plans from council and what is up to date,” Mr Dillon said.

Sally Knight and Josh Dillon are the new owners of the Lakes Creek Hotel.

The hotel is Rockhampton’s second oldest pub, with first place tightly held by The Criterion Hotel Motel, which was built in 1889.

According to the heritage building listing, the Lakes Creek Hotel was constructed in 1895 and was the third hotel on the site.

The first hotel on the site at 431 Lakes Creek Road was built in 1871 and it burnt down in 1880.

Reports at the time suggested the fire was started by rats gnawing through the shelving, causing liquor bottles to fall and ignite, and the single storey timber building was consumed by a blaze within 10 minutes.

A new hotel was built and was run for many years by Thomas McLaughlin and Co, the founder of Rockhampton’s famous ‘Mac Beer’ and owner of the Fitzroy Brewery.

But it was knocked down around 1895, to build something bigger to meet the demand of the growing village of Lakes Creek, settlers and travellers.

The existing hotel was constructed by builder T Moir and designed by prominent Rockhampton architect firm Eaton and Bates.

The hotel was a stop for the horse-drawn coach service from Emu Park to Rockhampton which was a four-hour journey, one-way.

The Lakes Creek Hotel was closed in 2018 when the doors were shut and everything was left behind.

“It’s a grand building, you have 3.6 metre ceilings, the hard wood in the place is 127 years, the place isn’t moving, it’s been through three floods,” Mr Dillon said.

“If it was going to go anywhere it would have by now.

“We are very proud of it, we know the potential it’s got, we know how much work is involved too but that’s what we do.”

It will be the first pub for the couple, who ran the Big 4 at Kinka Palms for nine years and have had the Emerald Tourist Park for the past three years.

“It’s a challenge for us,” Mr Dillon said.

“Central Queensland has given us so much and we feel like we are giving a little back to the community and it’s very exciting.”

The renovations are full steam ahead now after Christmas and they are working toward an opening after Easter, pending council and building approvals.

The upstairs rooms are being renovated to be hotel rooms with ensuites.

Upstairs there are 13 accommodation rooms which will all have ensuites.

“It will be amazing how quick it will come together with some boys on site,” Mr Dillon said.

It will be a family hotel with something for everyone.

“We want it to be family hotel, we have the whole monopoly here, biggest beer garden in Rocky, we have area for entertainment for functions, bottle shop, accommodation, TAB, keno, pokies, we have them all to make it work,” Mr Dillon said.

“We’ve had a lot of good support, it’s a huge catchment out here, if we can get the service, the food and the price right, we do believe that people will support us.”