Newtown’s night-life matriarch Justine Baker oversees 32 venues in Sydney and Brisbane and 2000 staff
MEET the mum-of-two anointed Newtown’s night-life matriarch who‘s going head to head with pub tsar millionaire Justin Hemmes for a lucrative slice of Sydney’s inner west party scene.
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EFFERVESCENT Justine Baker is the unassuming matriarch driving Newtown’s night-life.
With more than 15 years’ experience finetuning strategies at hospitality giant Solotel, the flame-haired mother-of-two was last year bequeathed the role of chief executive officer, overseeing 32 venues in Sydney and Brisbane and more than 2000 staff.
Although one of the busiest operators in the business, she calls frontline staff at Newtown’s Courthouse, Bank, Marlborough and nearby Erksinville (Erko) by their first names and is a big supporter of women in business.
“Hotel and pub work is in my blood, it’s where all the passion and the fun is,” the 45-year-old told The Daily Telegraph.
“Don’t ask me to chose my favourite pub, that would be like asking me to pick my favourite child, they all have their unique characters.
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“I have a soft spot for Darlinghurst’s Green Park as it’s where it all began for me but I love the Inner West for its vibrancy and diversity,” said the 45-year-old mother of two.
At the helm of bars in and outside Sydney’s lockout entertainment zone, Ms Baker has seen a migration of 20somethings from the group’s Kings Cross Hotel to Newtown’s Marlborough in the last few years.
“I wish Kings Cross and CBD would reopen for the sake of Newtown’s future, I love the Inner West it has a different soul that needs to be protected,” she said.
Working alongside Solotel owners Bruce Solomon’s and celebrity chef Matt Moran, fellow director Ms Baker has risen through the ranks also overseeing the Inner West’s Public House in Petersham, the Erskinsville (Erko) and Sackville hotel in Rozelle.
“Newtown is a special place struggling to stay diverse despite is explosion in popularity,” she said.
Ms Baker first developed a taste for pub life pulling pints part time at Hornsby’s Blue Gum Hotel while studying management and tourism management at UTS.
After graduating from university she worked with the Sydney Olympics research team hatching its capability bid.
“Part of my soul died, working in an office 9am to 5pm wasn’t me, I missed the vibrancy and immediacy of hospitality,” she said.
Solomon gave her a job as assistant manager of Green Park Hotel in 90s Darlinghurst and 11 months later was running it.
After a stint travelling abroad and working in a winery in Margaret River, Western Australia, she returned to the Solotel fold as an assistant sommelier for Aria 16 years ago.
She went on to write the group’s wine list and negotiate beverage suppliers before working her way up the ranks and steering the group’s food strategies.
Ms Baker had been the hospitality group’s chief operating officer for four years leading HR, marketing, operations, food and dining, and design, daily business and future operations.
She says she is proud to be a female leading a company as big as Solotel, which also owns Sydney’s Opera Bar, The Sheaf, Barangaroo House, and Quay Bar.