Hurlstone Park Hotel soon to be replaced by up-market apartment complex

It was once the post-match drinking-hole favoured by the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

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It was once the post-match drinking-hole favoured by the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

But the Hurlstone Park Hotel, formerly Grumpy’s Pub, will soon be replaced by Wattle Hill — an up-market, six-storey apartment complex with 42 units.

While the pub is still operating and its closing date is unknown, one, two and three bedroom apartments are already being advertised online.

An artist’s impression of the ground floor level of Wattle Hill.

Wattle Hill apartments will soon stand in place of the Hurlstone Park Hotel.

The pub, built in 1930 in the art deco style, was designed by prominent architect Ernest Lindsay Thompson.

The first licensees were the brothers Flitcroft and the pub was known as ‘Flitcroft’s’.

The developer, Iris Capital, bought the pub in 2014 for $11 million and the Wattle Hill development was approved by Canterbury Council in February 2016.

This kind of development has been a recurring theme in Hurlstone Park recently — and community members say it will be another piece of history lost from their neighbourhood.

A historic photo of Hurlstone Park Hotel which opened in 1931. Picture: Supplied

“It’s a historical building of local significance,” president of the Hurlstone Park Association Craig Field said. “We would like to know if the developers have considered, or would consider retaining some of the building?”

“The Hurlstone Park Hotel may not be (Thompson’s) finest work, but it serves as an important, visual and real-life historical link to his greater works.”

The Express contacted the developer, Iris Capital, last week but received no comment.