Sandgate RSL Memorial Club receives $4.3m makeover
A Brisbane RSL club, which has been vacant for more than two years, is receiving a $4.3 million makeover. Read what the new operator has planned, including jobs for up to 60 people.
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Sandgate RSL Memorial Club is receiving a $4.3 million makeover to breathe new life into a building which has been vacant for more than two years.
The Sandgate club closed on January 9, 2018 after it was voted into liquidation with debts totalling $1.4 million.
Owners Sandgate RSL Sub-Branch sold the building to Michael Maguire early last year and now Kedron-Wavell Services Club has applied for a gaming and liquor licence to operate it as a community club.
Both Mr Maguire and Kedron-Wavell are investing millions (about $2.3 million and $2 million respectively) into refurbishing and modernising the look of the club.
Kedron-Wavell general manager Lyndon Broome said they hoped to open by November-December this year and employ between 40 and 60 people.
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In the meantime, the building will receive an external makeover and is being gutted, with all floor coverings, ceilings and furniture to be replaced.
“It’s a tired building and needs to be brought back to life,” Mr Broome said.
“It’ll be all brand new but in many ways it will be fairly similar.”
The club will still feature a family bistro area, sit down restaurant, lounge area, kids room and pokies area with a new private lounge bar. The TAB is still operating downstairs.
Mr Broome said a major change would be the club entrance.
“We didn’t like the (second) entry which made people walk through the gaming area or the fact it was opposite the (Sandgate State) school, so we are reorientating the club,” he said.
“The front door of the club (accessible from the car park) will be the only entrance, so you will walk into the club and into the main area.”
Mr Broome said Kedron-Wavell’s licence application was for similar conditions to that of the former memorial club, which traded as Club Sandgate.
“The RSL closed with 80 gaming machines and with an operating licence from 10am to 12.30am,” he said.
“We’ve lodged a gaming and liquor licence application for the same conditions with the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation.
“Our application is now subject to a public submission phase and we encourage people to be a part of that consultation.”
Mr Broome said they wanted to take all the things that made Kedron-Wavell successful and bring that to Sandgate.
“However it won’t be a Kedron-Wavell mark two. It won’t look like Kedron-Wavell and it won’t have Kedron-Wavell branding.
“What you will see is Sandgate’s own club and we are going to be recruiting Sandgate people.
“All the things we’re good at we’ll transfer here – amazing food and entertainment and good staff culture.
“We’re about classically pub food but done amazing, and getting the price right.”
Mr Broome said they would support the adjacent RSL sub-branch and veterans “but will be more broader as a club”.
“The community in Sandgate loves Sandgate and that’s a really powerful thing. We want to deliver an inclusive club for the whole of Sandgate – a holistic community club rather than an RSL memorial club.
“We’re also a services club ourselves so we will never lose where this club came from or who it is. It will still have a connection to a services club and what an RSL is.
“Anyone who was a member of Sandgate RSL Club we’ve been honouring their membership as much as we could. We are here for the right reasons and here for the people of Sandgate.”
Mr Broome said, with council approval, they also hoped to operate a coffee van at the front of the club from 6.30am-10am, similar to the Bean Shack which operates outside Kedron-Wavell.
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