The Strand North Ipswich: Jamie Baker and Kimberley Baker-Schaefer to set up coffee shop, sports bar

An iconic Ipswich hotel which has sat empty for 18 months will get a fresh lease on life with new owners to open a cafe and a sports bar inside. Here’s their exciting plans.

A brother and sister have taken over the reins of an iconic Ipswich pub with plans to breathe new life into the venue ahead of its 100th birthday.

Jamie Baker and Kimberley Baker-Schaefer took over management of the Strand Hotel in North Ipswich in June and have been working hard for the past three months to put their own touches on it.

They are hoping to open a coffee shop and cafe this month and a sports bar by the end of the year.

The Strand turns 100 next year.

The siblings have so far invested about $150,000 into overhauling the building.

Despite neither having a significant background in hospitality, they said they were determined to make it a must-visit venue.

The pub, opposite Riverlink Shopping Centre and just down the road from the home of the Ipswich Jets, sat empty for 18 months before they took it over.

“We just always wanted to do it,” Ms Baker-Schaefer said.

“We saw this place come up for rent so we were just like ‘let’s give it go, let’s go for it’.

“Growing up in Ipswich there’s not a huge amount of places where you can watch a wide range of sports.”

Ms Kimberley Baker-Schaefer worked in the mining sector and Mr Baker is an ex-navy and ex-army man who has had “a thousand different jobs”.

He has repainted the interior black and white and hoped to do the same on the outside, giving it the look of an old English pub.

“I’ve always wanted a pub as far back as I could remember,” he said.

The pair plan to open Baker Street Coffee Co. this month with a sports bar to follow by the end of the year. Picture: Lachlan McIvor

“We want to keep it as original as we can.

“I’m ex-navy so I’ve been everywhere travelling around. This is where family was so I’ve always come back here.

“I’ve drunk in a lot of pubs around the world. Back in the 90s I used to work in Sydney in the Fairfields Leagues Club. As a barman I do know how to pour a beer.

“In the last five years I owned my own macadamia farm down near Kempsey.

“I’ve had businesses before. It’s not rocket science. People drink beer and we sell it to them.”

Baker Street at the Strand will be made up of Baker Street Coffee Co. and the Baker Street Sports Bar.

American fare will be on the sports bar’s menu with wings, sliders, nachos and chips rather than the traditional steaks and parmies.

Punters will be able to sit back and enjoy any and all sports played on 12 TV screens with a beer in hand.

There are plans to put in a stage in the beer garden for live music.

Mr Baker said a pizza oven and a smoker could also be on the cards to provide more dining options.

There are even eight rooms upstairs which could be used as a bed and breakfast.

“I’ve got so many (ideas) but it all comes down to money,” he said.

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

Originally published as The Strand North Ipswich: Jamie Baker and Kimberley Baker-Schaefer to set up coffee shop, sports bar