Victory Hotel to close on weekend after leaseholder fails to renew

The Vic will turn off its taps for the final time this week after its owner decided not to renew a lease on the popular venue.

The iconic Victory Hotel on Brisbane’s Edward St will close on Saturday.

The taps will be turned off for the final time at an iconic and heritage-listed Brisbane hotel on Saturday.

The Victory Hotel, which opened on Edward St in 1855, will shut after long-term leaseholder ALH Group decided to call it quits.

A spokeswoman for ALH confirmed it would not enter into a new lease after its existing 20-year lease expired in March, but declined to comment further.

It is believed the pub was difficult to run viably due to a number of factors such as the layout and age of facilities.

The mood was stoic in the front bar on Wednesday after news about the imminent closure broke just after lunchtime.

One punter, who wanted only to be known as Bill, said he would miss afternoon drinks in the bar he had been patronising for more than a decade.

“This is a major landmark in Brisbane – but I don’t think it means the end,” he said.

The Victory Hotel was gutted by fire in 2008.

Landlord the Precision Group was contacted for comment.

The well-known watering hole made a name for itself in the inner-city hotel market as a venue for live music and as a start-up spot for DJs.

Disheartened city workers took to Facebook to commiserate the loss of another refuge from the city’s lunchtime hustle and bustle.

Venue manager Phil Coles confirmed the “rumours are true” on social media.

The hotel is one of the few in the inner city to have a beer garden and was the subject of investigations after an early-morning fire ripped through the site, gutting the building in 2008.

It was completely rebuilt after the blaze, believed to have been sparked in the basement.

It is unknown when the popular venue will reopen.