Reopening date of Wednesday May 5 announced for the iconic Great Western Hotel
The new leasees have a big focus on food and hope to become to the best place in Rocky to have a steak
Rockhampton
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The beer taps are being reconnected and the dust is being wiped off the top of the bar as staff rapidly prepare for the reopening of Rockhampton's Great Western Hotel on May 5.
The iconic hotel was closed in June 2020 and was placed on the market for $2.45m, lowered to $1.95m, with the option to lease.
A group of businessmen, Michael Simpson of Brisbane, Mick Kearney of Sydney and Glen Young of Townsville, have taken over the lease.
Between them, they have 80 years' experience in the industry.
They wanted to open during Beef Australia 2021, which is on from May 2 to 8, and ahead of the PBR Australia Invitational event at the venue the night of Friday, May 7.
"We have done a lot already, cleaning the venue, getting everything in place to be able to open, we have a lot of staff already on board," Mr Simpson said.
Kirk Jones, who also has a background as an executive chef, has been brought in as the venue manager.
The trio of businessmen received more than 180 applications for staff, with 30 applications submitted half an hour after the advertisement went live.
"We were surprised, we thought we would have to bring staff in from one of our other businesses but that wasn't the case," Mr Simpson said.
Food will be a huge focus, with a condensed menu that will have something for everyone including some smoked options.
"We want to make sure our food offering here is excellent," Mr Simpson said.
"The menu is not 1000 things, I think there is about 45 things on the menu.
"We would like to be known as one of the better places in Rocky to get a steak."
The fundamentals and core business of The Great Western won't change as the bull riding and live major music events will continue.
The new management team does plan to put a contemporary spin on the western lifestyle.
They have big plans to advertise the venue, which is known as one of the most iconic and unique pubs in Australia.
"We are very familiar with what the pub is, we have extensive marketing plans to go around not just Rockhampton but a long way down to Brisbane and as a far as Cairns, to really promote what this place actually is," he said.
The group of new leasees has known each other for a long time and have often discussed getting into business together.
Mr Simpson said they looked at buying the venue in 2014 when Vicki and Colin Bowden bought it.
They are "massively excited" to have taken over the lease this time around.
"It just felt like the right timing coming out of COVID," he said.
"Mick owns his own arena just out of Sydney, it's part of who we are and what we do."
Originally published as Reopening date of Wednesday May 5 announced for the iconic Great Western Hotel
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