Country pubs: Brim Hotel co-owners Allan Crane and Steve and Barb Donelly decide to sell
After putting in the hard yards to reopen a small Wimmera watering hole, the owners have been forced to sell. See why.
Victoria
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Brim Hotel’s three part-owners have reluctantly decided to sell less than seven months after reviving the Wimmera watering hole that had been closed for six years.
Retired banker Allan Crane, his sister Barb Donelly and husband Steve, took on the major challenge of reviving the pub on a “complete whim”.
But health issues have befallen all three, leading them to put the pub on the market.
“It’s not the pub life, but a nasty collision of fate unfortunately for all three of us,” Mr Crane said.
“It’s taken the shine off it for us for sure.
“We’ve got it up and running, which was a bit of an effort in itself.
“It’s doing well and the locals love it.
“It was a complete whim. I don’t know why we did it, but we did.”
Mr Crane, who is undergoing treatment for eyesight issues, and Mr and Mrs Donelly bought the pub more than a year ago and spent six months repairing the pub, including fridge replacements and major electrical upgrades before opening in early June.
“Ultimately we got it all going and it’s pretty nice,” he said.
“It’s got a terrific little country pub feel.”
The nearest hotels are in Warracknabeal, but one of the town’s two pubs, the Creekside Hotel, will close its doors on January 1 and another pub at Beulah hasn’t reopened since shutting during Covid.
“We got a lot of traffic from Beulah and a lot of traffic from Warrack,” Mr Crane said.
“People are always looking for something different.
“If you do all the fundamentals well it can be really good.”
The Brim Hotel, which doesn’t open Mondays and Tuesdays, has just had strong patronage during harvest including workers from Sweden, Canada and Ireland.
It was formerly known as the Commercial Hotel and was built in 1886.
The sale is being handled by CRE Brokers.
Originally published as Country pubs: Brim Hotel co-owners Allan Crane and Steve and Barb Donelly decide to sell
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