Family that once ran Carlton’s historic Corkman Irish Pub devastated after it was torn down

A FAMILY with close links to an illegally demolished 1857 Carlton pub is devastated by the act, as the local community prepares to hold a musical tribute to the slice of history lost forever.

A FAMILY with close links to an illegally demolished Carlton pub is devastated by the act.

Phil Copsey’s grandfather ran the former Carlton Inn in Leicester St and his parents met there in the 1940s.

Mr Copsey was shocked this week when he saw images of the flattened hotel, which in recent years has been known as the Corkman Irish Pub.

“I was upset, my brother and sister were upset, and I’ve had quite a few older cousins and other members of the family from different sides message me saying this was disgraceful,” he told the Herald Sun.

“It was one of our pubs.”

Developers Stefce Kutlesvoski and Raman Shaqiri face fines up to $1 million if prosecuted by council and state authorities after the pub - built in 1857 at the corner of Leicester and Pelham streets - was torn down with no demolition permit or planning permit for a new building.

Phil Copsey's family ran the Corkman Irish pub in the 1940s. This is all that’s left of it. Picture: Alex Coppel

The Carlton Inn, 1937. Picture: Alex Coppel

The State Government has flagged the possibility of higher fines for illegal commercial demolition amid calls for the pub site to be compulsorily acquired for community use.

Mr Copsey, who grew up around Carlton and Brunswick, said his father was a good footballer who hosted Carlton player mates at the pub.

“One of the footballer’s girlfriends became dad’s girlfriend and she later became my mother,” he said.

Legendary Labor Party figure Arthur Calwell, who later became federal opposition leader, was also a friend of Mr Copsey’s father and a regular at the pub.

“At election time dad and Arthur used to take the dining room table from the hotel out on to the footpath and Arthur would do all his speeches from out there,” he said.

“For the ones who wanted to stand there and listen to all his speeches they later went inside and got a free beer.”

Mr Copsey said that his grandmother was caught selling grog after hours from the pub’s back door and had to front the Russell St police headquarters.

“My grandmother was not backwards in coming forwards,” he said.

“She went up there, slapped ten pounds on the table and said ‘that’ll fix that’, and walked out.

She never heard another thing about it.”

A tribute to the Corkman pub will be held today by musicians who played traditional Irish music sessions there in recent years.

A performance will be held from 4.30pm in University Square, opposite the pub site.

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FURTHER REPORT: Call for tough penalties after Carlton pub demolition