The Village Inn, Paddington: Vaucluse MP Kellie Sloane voices support for preservation of historic pub

Vaucluse MP Kellie Sloane has voiced her support for a community-led protest against the removal of a historic pub. Find out why she wants to save the beloved watering hole.

Picture: Julian Andrews.

A state minister has joined the groundswell of support for a community-led backlash to the potential loss of a historic Paddington pub.

Vaucluse MP and Shadow Environment Minister Kellie Sloane said the 172-year-old pub The Village Inn was part of the “community fabric”.

“The Village Inn has supported our school fundraisers, welcomed our sports teams, has been a pet-friendly venue for local pet owners and it’s been part of our community fabric since 1890,” she said.

A proposal to reimagine The Village Inn – first opened at Glenmore Rd in 1850 – as a boutique for fast-growing Australian fashion label Alemais was lodged with Woollahra Council in June.

The plans would turn the venue, which has operated as a pub for almost 200 years, into a retail space with an office on the second floor along with a new facade and signage.

Village Inn Hotel, 9-11 Glenmore Rd Paddington. Photo: Supplied.

Since the development proposal was made public, small business owners, residents and politicians including Woollahra councillor Harriet Price have vowed to fight the plans, with a community rally planned for Saturday.

Group Save The Village Inn has invited protesters to join a ‘lock-in’ at the pub from 3pm on Saturday.

Ms Sloane was elected as Vaucluse MP in a landslide at the NSW state election in March.

Ms Sloane said she had added her name to a Change.org petition – now at 2640 signatures – and would show her support at a planned rally at the venue on Saturday.

The Liberal Vaucluse MP said she had campaigned “to preserve the character and beauty of our community”.

“While the Village Inn lies just outside of my electorate of Vaucluse, it’s something I’m speaking up about because it matters to people right across the eastern suburbs,” Ms Sloane said.

Ms Sloane said she would be urging the building owners to consider a business model that was “in keeping with the pub’s heritage”.

Village Inn hotel, 9-11 Glenmore Rd Paddington. Photo: Supplied.

Co-owner of Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Dominic Maunsell, inside his gallery.

“Surely that’s possible in one of the most vibrant and wealthy inner-city suburbs of Sydney,” she said.

Co-owner of Maunsell Wickes Gallery in Paddington, Dominic Maunsell – who has run his business on the street since 1985 – said the Paddington community took pride in its strict heritage protections.

“I’m devastated that we might lose the heart and hearth of our little community,” Mr Maunsell said.

Development documents state the economic viability of property as a pub was not sustainable and the proposed retail space would effectively retain the heritage of the “significant Victorian Building”.

The leaseholder of Village Inn pub, Stehr Hospitality, has been approached for comment.