The Albion Hotel to reopen in South Melbourne

FORMER Collingwood footballer Dane Swan is pumped for the pub he co-owns, The Albion Hotel in South Melbourne, to open its doors after it was set alight by a disgruntled builder.

Collingwood legend Dane Swan hopes to pour some beers at The Albion Hotel, which he part owns, when it reopens. Picture: Alex Coppel

FOOTY larrikin Dane Swan is preparing to pull some beers behind the bar when The Albion Hotel, the South Melbourne pub he part owns, rises like a phoenix from the ashes of a 2015 arson attack and opens its doors in January.

The popular venue has been completely rebuilt after it was set alight by a disgruntled builder in October 2015, leaving a $5 million damages bill.

The project is expected to be finished next month and open in late January.

HUGE FIRE AT THE ALBION, FORMERLY MOTEL, IN SOUTH MELBOURNE

ALBION HOTEL FIRE: BUILDER JAILED OVER BLAZE AT DANE SWAN’S PUB

The Albion fire sparked a blaze of rumours suggesting criminal elements could have been involved in the destruction of the former nightclub.

The rebuild of the Albion Hotel in South Melbourne. Picture: Michael Klein

Police later arrested builder Andrew McMahon, who had been in charge of the renovations. He pleaded guilty to arson and in February was sentenced to five years’ jail.

Part-owner Matt Darcy said an extraordinary series of unconnected events surrounded the arson.

“About a month before the fire somebody had ripped off a drug dealer in Richmond. We have them on camera and as they ran past The Precinct, which is our place in Richmond, they put a little black suitcase into our keg shoot,” he said.

“Next morning our maintenance guys found this little suitcase that was full of glad bags of ice. We rang the cops who came down and collected it.

“I told a couple of mates and I told the builder. Then about two weeks later he (McMahon) said he had received threatening anonymous calls. The builder continued the charade saying he had people ringing and hanging up. And then about a week later the joint burns to the ground.”

The Albion Hotel’s new bar on level 2. Picture: Michael Klein

McMahon later admitted there were no anonymous threats and he had set the fire after falling behind the renovation schedule.

“Obviously the stress of the whole thing got the better of him and he made a stupid decision. I feel sorry for him,” Darcy said.

The new Albion will stretch over three levels and feature a spectacular rooftop space.

The venue will cater for lunch, dinner and offer versatile function areas. It will transition to a nightclub with a 5am licence on Friday and Saturdays.

“For what we all went through we had to come back bigger and better,” Darcy said.

Swan said he and part-owners Robbie Kearns and Danny Williams were relieved to finally open The Albion.

“This is my gap year where I wanted to do all the fun things I couldn’t do while I was playing footy,” Swan said.

“The best thing is at the end of the year this (The Albion) will be done, so it will cap off a pretty awesome year for me. I might pour some beers (there), but I would probably drink more than I would pour.”