Incredible reason a bar baron may lease Lorne’s iconic Grand Pacific Hotel

Lorne’s majestic Grand Pacific Hotel is set to be leased by a billionaire, in the hope it can be used to attract, house and keep staff.

Billionaire Justin Hemmes could be down Lorne way quite a bit soon. Picture: Phil Hillyard

As the helicopter swooped into land, Sydney bar baron Justin Hemmes looked down at the Great Ocean Rd to Lorne’s glorious pier and pub landmark.

Hemmes said he was well pleased with his recent purchase.

But that’s not the one you bought, explained a minion, your $38m pub is back in town.

That’s the story told by the locals downing a few frothier at the 150-year-old Lorne Hotel; yes, the one in town on the corner of Mountjoy Pde. Like all good tales, a pub story can have a bit of aioli added, but trust us, local gossip is surprisingly on the mark.

So impressed with the Grand Pacific Hotel – the one he saw as the helicopter landed – Hemmes is now looking to lease it for his staff.

The three-storey icon with sweeping ocean views was renamed the Pub at the Pier before it went into liquidation earlier this year.

Josh Rudd of the millennial-popular surf coast Ghanda fashion brand (and brother to singer Xavier Rudd) snapped up the freehold in April for a reported $5.5m. A steal!

The Grand Pacific was once owned by Jonathon Crawford and drew the smart crowd.

Like Crawford, Hemmes knows a thing or two about pubs and pubgoers.

Hemmes and his company Merivale are recruiting staff for his Lorne pub and his biggest dilemma was where to house them. In a stroke of genius, he figured out the best way to attract and keep staff was to offer them digs at the old Grand Pacific.

It’s no secret that staff shortages have hit hard in the hospitality industry.

In Melbourne’s CBD, robotic waiters are tending tables.

Staff are scarce out of town too, as cashed-up holiday makers flock to the coast. Any vacant beach shacks are quickly snapped up at eye-watering rates.

But Hemmes, the billion-dollar businessman and his Merivale merry men and women are known for thinking out of the box.

As well as putting up staff at the Grand Pacific, the iconic pub built in the 1870s is also being

used for food prepping.

Talented Matt Germanchis, formerly of Pei Modern and Pandora’s box before moving to the Surf Coast at Anglesea’s Captain Moonlite, has been headhunted as executive chef of the Lorne Hotel.

The chopper recce trip was worth it. And the locals are on the money. Hemmes has arrived!