Terrace cafe and garden bar but Fitzy’s Loganholme stays true to working-class roots

A much-loved blue-collar boozer south of Brisbane is getting a long-overdue facelift. Take a look at what’s changing.

THE scaffolding is up and the jackhammers are out but behind a plume of dust in the heart of working-class Logan a miracle is taking place as one of the city’s best-known pubs gets a $3 million facelift.

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Fitzy’s at Loganholme has been a landmark for more than four decades.

The watering hole, once popular with tradies for Friday night beers and bets, is having a spruce up.

Every nook and cranny of the 41-year-old pub has been gutted.

Carpets have been stripped, outdated terracotta tiles from the 1980s jemmied out, walls repainted and even ceilings rebuilt.

Hundreds of light fittings have been replaced and every power point plug hole modernised — no mean feat when there are more than 100.

But the iconic boozer is not abandoning its middle-class roots — merely adding another dimension to cater for the fairer sex and a more gentile client.

The gutted front bar will reopen as a garden oasis lounge and cafe serving cocktails. PHOTOS: JUDITH KERR

“It won’t be Raffles,” said long-time hotel manager Tony Weldon “but it will be pretty darn good.”

Gone will be the days when a quiet afternoon libation had to be taken in the rowdy sports bar at the back of the hotel.

The entire front of the hotel, facing the Bryants Rd car park, has been purged, ready to be transformed into a multi-tiered terrace cafe and bar, complete with tapas, lounge suites, cocktails and palm trees.

It has been designed as the perfect oasis for those looking to escape the Queensland heat and chug back a few vinos alfresco.

The front steps will be transformed into the piece de resistance, a multi-tiered alfresco garden bar. PHOTOS: JUDITH KERR

“We’ve always had an outdoor area but it’s always been under used,” Mr Weldon said.

“This is going to have a courtyard feel with plenty of greenery and will cater to professionals and those who don’t want to sit in the sports bar.

“But it’s still going to be for our middle-class patrons who want a fresh and vibrant cafe and bar where they can get coffee and cake too.”

Building the renovation around the pub’s colourful working-class history was a major part of the project.

The Sports Bar will play all major games from different codes on big screens. PHOTOS: JUDITH KERR

The Fitzgibbon family built the hotel in 1979 after brothers Brian, John and Greg inherited a chain of pubs including the Osbourne on Ann St in Fortitude Valley.

After building the Loganholme pub, the brothers turned their hand to the venue at Waterford West.

When entrepreneur Tom Hedley made the brothers an offer they could not refuse in 1997, the hotels were sold.

But after financial woes, retail giant Coles Group stepped in and bought the hotels, which languished until 2013, when Mr Weldon was employed to overhaul the business.

One of the first moves was to shut the pub’s nightclub, which had served to “lower the tone” of the venue, Mr Weldon said.

“Coles started out slowly but by 2013 it was obvious a different direction was needed so we did a small $2 million renovation and that’s when the Road House Grill opened,” Mr Weldon said.

“When we re-open, sometime after August, instead of the Road House Grill we are going to open a bistro which will be open and modern.”

Along with the garden bar, Fitzy’s will have a designated pokies area, a sports bar relaying all sports codes on big screens and three function rooms.

“We are going up-market but not away from our market,” Mr Weldon said.