A one-of-a-kind pub in country Victoria with legions of fans will be closing after 16 years this month, due to difficulty finding skilled staff and a tough economy that’s affecting patronage.

Radio Springs Hotel in Lyonville, a hamlet between Daylesford and Trentham, shared the news on social media on Wednesday night.

“We re-opened last weekend looking forward to 2025. However during this week our circumstances have changed considerably and we are announcing that this weekend will be the last for our kitchen,” reads the post.

Speaking to Good Food, owner Ken Parfrey explained: “After scrambling for kitchen staff since COVID, key members of our kitchen team suddenly left late last week.”

Days before announcing the closure, the venue had advertised for a second chef and kitchenhand.

“We’ve had some truly great chefs here over the years, but it’s become impossible to find good staff. We post ads, but there’s no response.”

“2025 is going to be another slog, just like 2023 and 2024,” he adds. “The people who would normally eat and stay with us are suffering financially – they don’t have the money. Pubs like ours are no longer an essential spend.”

“It’s become impossible to find good staff. We post ads, but there’s no response.”

Radio Springs Hotel owner Ken Parfrey

Flagged by a signpost that reads “Centre of the Universe”, the rambling 1920s bungalow hotel was bought by Parfrey and wife Jackie Airey in 1997 when Parfrey mistakenly put his hand up at the wrong time during the auction.

The couple stripped out the burnt-orange 1970s renovation and reinstated wood panelling and stained-glass windows. When they finally opened the doors in 2009, Airey and Parfrey banned pokies, threw a claw-hammer through the television, and stopped serving CUB beers. Instead, they installed an English-style hand pump for the local Holgate extra-special bitter and ran an eclectic program of live music, comedy and cinema.

The response to the closure on social media was heartfelt, with many locals and visitors recalling moments spent at the pub and pledging to make one last visit.

One commenter described Radio Springs as “an oasis in a sea of insanity”.

“There simply will be no one that can replicate this treasure,” said another.

The sprawling pub encompasses several bars, a dining room, accommodation, a library, extensive gardens and a screening room where films are shown each Thursday. A former projectionist, Parfrey salvaged outdated celluloid projectors from Melbourne cinemas and installed them. Most weekends, live bands play everything from Irish fiddle music to jazz and rockabilly. Walls are crammed with paintings and bric-a-brac, heavy drapes frame the dining room, and service is old-fashioned yet friendly.

The pub will serve its last meals this Sunday, January 19 and will continue to trade for drinks “until we drain the kegs”, which is estimated to be around January 26. A live band is booked for that day.

“Look, we’ve had a wild ride, and we’re both over retirement age,” says Parfrey, before adding wryly: “We came into this not knowing anything, and we walk out knowing we should have never done it in the first place.”