Toowoomba Plate, Bone Idol Bar owner Alister Ferguson buys Preston Manor wedding venue

A year after it suddenly shut its doors, a major player in Toowoomba’s hospitality scene has snapped up a once-popular wedding venue in a bid to revive it.

Preston Manor

The owner of some of Toowoomba’s top restaurants and bars has snapped up a popular wedding venue that has been closed for nearly 12 months.

The Plate restaurant and Bone Idol Bar owner Alister Ferguson has confirmed he is the new owner of Preston Manor and Village Chapel in Top Camp, in a move that could shake up the wedding sector.

Bone Idol bar owner Alister Ferguson has bought Preston Manor. Picture: Kevin Farmer

It will see the venue revived after shutting in June 2023, following a string of false starts with a number of tenants over several years, most notably popular former lessees Penny O’Neill and James Riwaka.

Mr Ferguson said the purchase fulfilled his dream of owning his own wedding and functions space, having first considered creating his own on his property in the Lockyer Valley.

“I have a farm down at Silver Ridge, and I’d been working through building one there, but the cost of building everything has gone up so dramatically,” he said.

“It was always a plan to do a wedding venue, and this just came up, so I checked it out and liked it.

“We want to keep the name, everyone loves the venue so it’s got a great name.

“In the first year we’d like to do other things, but essentially it will be a weddings and functions space.”

Preston Manor and Village Chapel, Thursday, July 25, 2019.

Mr Ferguson said Preston Manor would be vertically integrated to complement and work alongside his other ventures.

“We’ll do the cooking at The Plate, I’ve got the staff and bar guys.

“Having Russell (Armstrong, Plate executive chef) curating the menus, we’ll be able to offer some really nice packages. I’ve got all the stuff to do it, and it’s a different proposition to someone just coming in without all that.

“It will be an efficient business because it’s an extension of our current businesses – I’ve got chefs, bartenders, staff, food, beer, all the wine selections.”

Mr Ferguson said he hoped to open within a couple of months, arguing the Toowoomba wedding industry had plenty of growth potential.

“Weddings are become quite expensive, and people are happy to travel so I think Toowoomba is benefiting from it,” he said.