Toowoomba’s Newtown Hotel to earn revamp, expansion with new name

One of Toowoomba’s more unusual pubs will undergo a massive transformation — and it will incorporate a neighbouring ‘art deco’ garage that has become an eyesore.

Concept art for the redevelopment of the Newtown Tavern on Anzac Avenue in Newtown.

A historic pub dating back more than 150 years in a Toowoomba suburb looks set for a major redevelopment and expansion that will take in a heritage-listed garage next to it.

The Hakfoort Group, which also owns the Burke and Wills Hotel, has lodged two applications with the Toowoomba Regional Council to revamp the Newtown Hotel on Anzac Ave in Newtown.

According to the report by Precinct Urban Planning, the project would include removing non-heritage listed elements of the existing pub, while retaining the original two-storey structure.

Town planner Paul Kelly wrote that a key element would be the inclusion of the facade of the adjacent Newtown Towing building, which has been vacant and run-down for years, into the overall design.

“The proposal seeks to retain the original two-storey component of the Newtown Hotel building and remove and replace ad hoc single storey buildings around the southern and eastern sides of the hotel with new single storey extensions as part of the renovations,” he wrote.

Concept art for the redevelopment of the Newtown Tavern on Anzac Ave in Newtown.

“The new building work extends to the adjoining Newtown Towing (Newtown Service Station) site and includes removal of the vacant building in its entirety ensuring its location is preserved and its history is maintained and interpretable through the replication of the front facade and interpretative strategies.”

The top floor, which includes accommodation, will be renovated but largely retained.

Once completed the hotel, which designs suggest will be renamed the Newtown Tavern, will included expanded family and indoor dining areas, a children’s play space, outside courtyard, central bar and cafe and massive gaming lounge.

“The existing drive-through bottle shop and queuing area in the hotel carpark will be retained, however, the carpark itself will be upgraded to increase on-site parking from 37 spaces to 155 spaces,” Mr Kelly’s report said.

Reports were also lodged relating to noise, traffic and heritage impacts.

Extensive pre-lodgement meetings with the council’s planning department showed officers were open-minded to the removal of certain buildings if “it could be demonstrated it was structurally unsound, uneconomically repairable, of no cultural heritage significance, or a combination of these factors”.

The attached heritage report by Australian Heritage Specialists concluded there would be minimal impacts to the hotel, adding that the old Newtown Service Station’s history could be preserved with its incorporation into the design.

“The proposed works will have a minor overarching impact on the Newtown Hotel and a moderate overarching impact on the Newtown Service Station,” the report said.

“The Newtown Hotel will retain its ongoing historic use as well as retain its key streetscape presence while allowing for contemporary changes to be made.

“The Newtown Service Station is currently sitting in a derelict and dilapidated state.

“Its location will be incorporated into the updated redevelopment while ensuring its history is still maintained and interpretable through replication of the facade and interpretative strategies.”

One of the heritage structures that will be removed is an air raid shelter, which was built at the rear of the hotel during World War II.

Newtown Hotel before and after

While the heritage report described the shelter as a “unique piece of wartime history”, the report said the project team could not incorporate it into the new development and that it was “currently obstructive to the overhaul and reuse of the hotel precinct”.

The current Newtown Hotel is the third building on the site, with two prior iterations built in 1871 and 1912 respectively.

The existing structure was built during World War II in keeping with “changing interwar tastes of the period”.

Both the hotel and the service station feature art deco elements, notably the facade of the garage, which was consistent with the styles at the time of construction.

While the removal of the structures is impact-assessable and will require community feedback opportunities, the actual redevelopment is code-assessable.