Development approval sought for Bridgewater Inn’s planned $1.8m expansion

The Bridgewater Inn, one of the oldest hotels in the Adelaide Hills, is poised for a major expansion – see the plans here.

Bridgewater Inn owners Pat Hodby, Tracey and Andrew Lee are excited about the pub’s $1.8m expansion. Picture: Brenton Edwards

One of the Adelaide Hills’ oldest pubs, known for its riverside beer garden, is poised for a $1.8m expansion.

The Adelaide Hills Council is considering a development application for the Bridgewater Inn with renovations hoped to commence in May.

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The 179-year-old pub is co-owned by Pat Hodby and Tracey and Andrew Lee who together plan to take the landmark property into a new era.

Renovations will include major upgrades to the kitchen, alterations and additions to the dining room, new covered and uncovered decked areas for additional seating and a new veranda over the existing service yard.

Concept image of the Bridgewater Inn expansion.

Concept images of the Bridgewater Inn expansion.

Those with wheelchairs and prams will also be able to make use of a new lift, connecting the lower and upper floors, as well as disability access ramps to the beer garden. 

An existing storage shed, lower terrace, stage and upper terrace – including an onsite pergola – will need to be demolished to support the proposed development.

Mrs Lee said renovations would see the Bridgewater Inn provide a better guest experience and future function opportunities.

“We’re essentially building a new function space and restaurant,” she said.

“What that means is that we’re basically enclosing half of the top beer garden, but in doing that, there’s going to be plenty of glass to maximise the views.

“At the moment, we have lots of functions outside but when we have winter days in the middle of summer, our backup plan is inside in the restaurant.

“Unfortunately, you don’t really have a good view of Cox Creek from inside, so it’s about enclosing that view and creating a new space.”

Concept images of the Bridgewater Inn expansion.

Concept images of the Bridgewater Inn expansion.

Despite major expansion works, the pubs visitor capacity will remain unchanged.

The Bridgewater Inn currently holds a licence for 700 people.

“We’re not increasing capacity as it’s about giving people more options about being indoors or outdoors,” Mrs Lee said.

“However, the expansion will enable us to hold a wedding at the same time as still having our restaurant open, so it’s about absorbing a number of different events at the same time.”

Mrs Lee said the project would be carried out in stages with renovation to the kitchen a key priority.

She said work was scheduled to commence in late May to early June with the bulk of the work completed by September – the start of the beer garden season. 

The Bridgewater Inn’s history dates back almost 180 years.

“Like a lot of Hills venues, we’ve gotten very busy this summer with a lot more people around and our poor kitchen is pumping out 600 odd meals a day, which is doubled to what they are used to.” she said.

“So we’re doubling the kitchen’s size so that we can cope with the volume of people coming through.

”So that will be a priority as our tiny little kitchen means that our poor chefs have been very limited.” 

Originally published as Development approval sought for Bridgewater Inn’s planned $1.8m expansion