Leanyer’s famous Dollys bar set for a $2m facelift

Work has begun on upgrades to a popular northern suburbs hotel. Read what’s planned.

Bill's Bar and Grill (old Dollys)

A grand old northern suburbs lady is in the process of a much-needed $2 million facelift and a name change!

Born in 1998 and yet to turn 30, the builders have already moved into Dollys bar at Hibiscus Tavern for a long-awaited upgrade at the popular Leanyer pub.

The popular pub, which won the Territory’s best steak at the 2023 Hospitality NT Gold Plate Awards, is expected to be closed for a couple of months.

Demolition work at Dollys began Sunday.

The fun started before the bar closed for renovations when Hibiscus owner Paul Palmer began the internal demolition, taking a sledgehammer to the old brick fireplace that was built in the days when it was Dolly O’Reilly’s Irish Pub.

Previously owned by Paul’s father Bill, the Irish-themed bar opened at Hibiscus in 1998 and lasted more than a decade until their novelty began to wear off.

“The fireplace was part of the Irish theme that we kept until they stopped being popular in about 2010 and my father decided to change it up and removed most of the Irish theming and name it Dollys,” Paul said.

Bill's Bar and Grill will transform Dollys.

“Dolly was my stepmother’s grandmother and it was the kitchen and bar separate to Hibiscus, which was the main bar and bottleshop. They’re all part of Hibiscus but Dollys had the kitchen.”

With the renovation comes a name change. Dollys will be rebranded Bill’s Bar and Grill after Paul’s dad, who took a punt and bought the Hibiscus Tavern in 1981.

The process to change has taken a few years, with an interstate design offered and rejected before Paul teamed with locals Jeremy McLean at Asset Constructions and Mark Snowden from architects Mode Studios, who is doubling as project manager.

The steak’s will still be good at Bill’s Bar and Grill.

Among the changes will be a brand new purpose-built kitchen, increased guest capacity as well as significant renovations to Dollys toilets, which currently carry an in-built gender bias which shows the old lady’s age.

“There’s a lot of memories but it’s an old pub, it’s almost 45-years old,” Paul said. “The public bar will still be there and the bottleshop, it’s just Dollys that is being renovated.

“There’s only two toilet cubicles in the ladies, so they’re going to be a lot better looked after with four new cubicles. You can’t have a place this big with only two female toilets

“It will look different, it will be bigger and the amenities will be much better. The kitchen will function better, and we’ll have a bigger restaurant with capacity for an extra 60 people and obviously the toilets. So it will all be fit for purpose, look bright and fresh and it will be great.”

Originally published as Leanyer’s famous Dollys bar set for a $2m facelift