By Clay Lucas
A popular student pub on Swanston Street could be one of the first business casualties of the Andrews government's $10.9 billion rail tunnel under the city centre.
Contractor John Holland is earning more than $320 million for works to kick-start the massive rail tunnel, which will run from Kensington under the CBD to South Yarra.
Malcolm Wulf, the publican at the Oxford Scholar Hotel, in front of his pub on Swanston Street. Credit: Eddie Jim
Less fortunate is the Oxford Scholar Hotel, opposite RMIT, at the corner of Swanston and A'Beckett streets.
Its publican, Malcolm Wulf, says he is losing between $3000 and $5000 in drink sales each week as a result of bulldozers, jackhammers and construction works that started in January.
Mr Wulf behind the bar at his business, which he says is being hurt by the Metro rail tunnel construction works. Credit: Eddie Jim
"We've seen a big drop off in clientele," said Mr Wulf, as a result of almost constant daytime construction noise, and the loss of eight outdoor tables.
Mr Wulf, who has run the pub since 1991, said neither the state government's rail authority nor the city council is doing anything to help him.
Mr Wulf said "the noise, the dust, the exposure" had driven away students in the early part of the university year. "We need to get the students when they're here," he said.
The pub building is owned by RMIT, and is at the epicentre of where construction works will continue for five years, as a new station is built below Swanston Street.
The footpath where half of the Oxford Scholar's outside tables were located. Credit: Eddie Jim
Despite the obvious impact on Mr Wulf's business, the Melbourne Metro Rail Authority is not offering any compensation.
It says works are only to be carried out before 11am on Swanston Street to minimise impacts.
Students pass by the Oxford Scholar. Credit: Eddie Jim
But there is visual evidence that works were being done on the site adjacent to the pub during the afternoon last week.
Seventeen mature trees in A'Beckett Street, and nearby Franklin Street, have also been cut down for the works.
The Oxford Scholar Hotel before the rail tunnel construction commenced in 2017.
Mr Wulf said he understood there would be short-term impacts on businesses like his, to complete a much-needed project for the city. But just knowing this wasn't going to help, he said.
"They say you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelette," said Mr Wulf, but he did not see why his business needed to be "one of the eggs".
Franklin Street, near the Oxford Scholar on Swanston Street, is also closed and a work site. Credit: Eddie Jim
A spokesman for the Melbourne Metro Rail Authority said impacts and disruption from a project of this size were inevitable.
Despite Mr Wulf saying he was getting no support from the authority, the spokesman said it was "working with affected businesses to manage impacts and provide practical support".
The spokesman said there would be "several years" of localised impacts that would ultimately "deliver many decades of social and economic benefits for Melbourne and Victoria".
A Melbourne City Council spokeswoman confirmed that an outdoor trading license for the pub had been cancelled in January so that the rail authority could commence works at A'Beckett Street.
The high volume of pedestrians passing the A'Beckett Street construction site on Swanston Street meant outdoor trading could not be relocated there due to public safety concerns, she said.