Toowoomba’s Gowrie Road Hotel set for major renovation by Hakfoort Group, which revamped Burke and Wills Hotel
It’s been around for more than 150 years, now a developer is revitalising a major pub near the centre of Toowoomba. Check out the designs here:
Development
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The developer behind the incredible renovation of the Burke and Wills Hotel has set its sights on revitalising a historical pub close to the Toowoomba CBD.
Brisbane-based Hakfoort Group has lodged plans with the Toowoomba Regional Council to revamp the Gowrie Road Hotel on Bridge Street in Newtown.
According to the report by Precinct Urban Planning, the works include retaining the original structure and removing a series of “ad hoc” extensions, to be replaced with a more uniform expansion.
“The development seeks to retain the original double-storey, face-brick component of the hotel including the first-floor accommodation rooms and refurbishment of the ground floor,” the report said.
“The proposed works require removal of the ad hoc, single-storey extensions around the southern and eastern sides of the building, including the bottle shop, and undertake new extensions in these areas.”
The report said the finished product would feature formal and terraced dining areas, a gaming room, beer gardens, children’s play area and a commercial kitchen.
“The development will result in a refurbished/extended hotel building that has been designed and finished to a high architectural standard that will greatly enhance this established mixed-use precinct on Bridge St,” it said.
Several other reports into acoustics, traffic impacts, landscaping and stormwater were submitted with the application.
It is Hakfoort Group’s latest Toowoomba venture since completing a $15m facelift of the Burke and Wills Hotel in the CBD, which reopened in 2018.
The Hakfoort Group has owned the venue since 2010.
It is one of several pubs in its portfolio, which includes the Newtown Hotel one suburb over, the Tingalpa Hotel in Brisbane and the Bowen Hotel in North Queensland.
Company director Albert Hakfoort was contacted for comment on the application.
The Gowrie Road Hotel’s history dates back to as early as 1867, when it was known as the Rising Sun Hotel based on Chronicle records.
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