A corner pub on the CBD’s doorstep has just reopened after extensive renovations that have highlighted nearly 155 years of history.

The Central Club Hotel, in Victoria Street opposite Queen Victoria Market, has been closed for two years while a team of architects revived its best features (such as the art deco facade), and added a six-storey glass tower.

Pieces of the pub’s past are now proudly on display, such as a photograph taken during its stint as a depot for horse-drawn taxis in the early 20th century, and a picture of the previous owners, the three Aidone brothers, who ran the pub for 42 years.

In the new underground cocktail bar sits a grandfather clock that the brothers left for the new operators – it was there when they bought the building in the 1970s.

Publican Vincent Magrath has pages and pages of press clippings that mention the Central Club Hotel – sales, engagements, arrests and more stretching back to 1869.

All that history was front and centre in the renovation. Revival, a business that salvages materials before demolition, rescued as much jarrah timber as possible, which was turned into the joinery and tabletops that give the front bar its warmth.

“We wanted to keep the bones of the pub looking like a pub,” says Magrath, who ran the venue before the renovation. “There are very few traditional corner pubs left. In circumstances like these, they often get filled with apartments.”

The hotel does have an upper floor extension that includes accommodation, but it is set aside for members of the nurses’ union, which bought the building in 2017 to provide affordable rooms for any members visiting Melbourne for training.

A corner entrance was reinstated to make the most of a new horseshoe bar that now greets people on arrival. Punters can choose to sit in the public bar or in one of the rear booths, which are separated by joinery to feel a little like horse carriages – another nod to the building’s previous life.

Magrath has embraced the pub’s location, striking up relationships with Queen Victoria Market suppliers including Happy Tuna, Hagen’s Organics and Luke’s Chicken. He likes to point out the market stallholders stopping by for a drink to diners who might be ordering dishes featuring their produce. The pub as a community meeting place is an idea he feels strongly about.

The menu has also had a refresh, thanks to chef Alessandro Carestia (ex-Da Noi). Handmade pasta – including ricotta gnocchi with cavolo nero, and pumpkin cavatelli with sage – features alongside classics such as steaks (popular with the business crowd) and parmas.

Magrath’s previous life in wine sales is apparent from the impressive selection of local drops, while Australian spirits are prioritised in the cocktails.

Beneath the pub, the 42-seat Depot bar is a more upscale space offering up to 40 Irish whiskeys, the full cocktail list, and, soon, whisky and wine tastings.

Open Tue-Sat noon-11pm, Sun noon-7pm.

240-248 Victoria Street, North Melbourne, centralclubhotel.com.au