Elise Feltham resigns from police force to open The Wine Bar in Townsville’s CBD

Capitalising on a gap in the market, one of Townsville’s top cops has embarked on surprising change in career by opening a wine bar in the CBD. Find out why.

Venue manager Maxime Thuillier at The Wine Bar. Picture: Evan Morgan

The tradition of after work drinks is primed for a comeback after one of Townsville’s top cops made a surprise career switch, trading her firearm for a cork screw to open a wine bar in Townsville’s CBD.

The new business fills a gap in the market for a quiet, yet luxurious setting where visitors could sample a wide variety of unique wines unavailable in local bottle shops, to enjoy with grazing platters of cheese and charcuterie.

On the front line in the battle to curb domestic and family violence as the founding officer in charge of Townsville’s Vulnerable Person’s Unit, Elise Feltham has regularly appeared in the Townsville Bulletin’s lists of the city’s 50 most influential and inspirational women.

Ready to begin the next exciting chapter in her life, Ms Feltham tendered her resignation from the police force in March and put in the hard yards with her husband Ken to open The Wine Bar at 41 Denham St last week.

Traditionally a sauvignon blanc and Shiraz fan, Ms Feltham traced the idea for their business back to a holiday with her husband touring South Australia’s wine districts six years ago.

Elise Feltham has hung up her uniform after years on the frontline of the Townsville DV crisis. Picture: Evan Morgan

The trip ignited their passion and spurred subsequent holidays to other states’ wineries.

“It was places like Adelaide and Melbourne where they’ve got so many establishments, like small bars or wine bars, and it was something that I thought Townsville had been lacking for a very long time,” Ms Feltham said.

“In Townsville, we’ve got some very good fine dining restaurants, but we didn’t have anywhere that was a relaxed, luxurious environment where you could just sit with good wine or good spirits and communicate without having to yell, or go to a pub or a club.”

Jacob Hurlock shows off a tasting platter at The Wine Bar. Picture: Evan Morgan

After waiting for years for someone to open a wine bar in Townsville, the couple took matters into their own hands, approaching more than 60 Australian wineries over the last two years to discuss their wine bar idea.

“That excited the winemakers and the wineries that we visited, because they were basically saying, we don’t even have a footprint in North Queensland, so they were very supportive,” she said.

“A lot of them don’t have distributors in Queensland, so we buy directly from the wineries themselves, and we ship the wine across into Queensland.

Venue manager Maxime Thuillier at The Wine Bar. Picture: Evan Morgan

“The majority of the wine we sell, apart from the Bollinger champagne, you can’t really buy unless you go to the winery directly, or you come to us.”

The couple signed a lease in January on a former bridal store, stripped it back to the bare bones, and invested over $300,000 transforming the space, installing walls, toilets, kitchen, a board room, and a wine room filled with wine fridges.

To help make wine purchasing decisions easier, there are 20 bottles available by the glass, and French sommelier Max Thuillier is ready to share his expertise.

Venue manager Maxime Thuillier at The Wine Bar. Picture: Evan Morgan

The 14-seat board room is available for booking by businesses who can take advantage of the state-of-the-art set up, before relaxing with their beverage of choice.

After fantastic response from the community, Ms Feltham had high hopes that CBD’s 2000 workers would forge a new tradition of meeting their colleagues at the bar for “wine hour”, which will run between 4pm and 6pm.

For more information, visit: thewinebar.au

Originally published as Elise Feltham resigns from police force to open The Wine Bar in Townsville’s CBD