Will Priestley finally has his castle — and it was no fairytale creation

He may be known as Hobart’s coffee King, but Will Priestley is also a boy from Collinsvale who knows how to handle a shovel ... and his landscaping is fit for a castle.

Will Priestley in front of the Harlequin in Lenah Valley. Picture: Zak Simmonds

HOBART’S coffee king has opened the doors on his most ambitious project to date.

Will Priestley’s long-awaited castle opened to the public yesterday, transforming a landmark Hobart “castle” in Lenah Valley into a family-friendly restaurant and bar.

Mr Priestley has thrown out the welcome mat to all ages, as he wants the rambling 3000sq m grounds to be an extension of people’s backyards – only better.

“With everybody living on smaller housing blocks, you can’t run around in backyards like you used to,” he said.

“We want people to come down and hang out and enjoy our lawns.”

The Pilgrim Coffee owner said he and his two Harlequin business partners, Tyler Walsh and Clinton Gresham, had undertaken the backbreaking landscaping themselves.

“We have put a lot of work into it, and it was a bigger job than we anticipated,” he said.

“But we are all pretty handy so we put in the elbow grease.”

As a heart attack survivor, Mr Priestley has been careful to share the workload – but he has a soft spot for hard yakka.

“I grew up in Collinsvale so I’m used to picking up a shovel and going to town,” he said.

He went into a cardiac arrest two years ago at the age of 31, while training for hockey. He owes his life to the fact a stranger nearby immediately applied CPR.

Mr Priestley said the grounds were one of the attractions of the venue, and visitors could make use of picnic blankets, croquet sets and a giant Jenga set. The old cottage on the property has also been restored and will become the Pilgrim Group Office for all of Mr Priestley’s business ventures: Aloft restaurant, Queens Pastry, Pilgrim Pies, the new Circle of Life Donut Co, Harlequin and the new Standard burger venue when it reopens later this year.

Mr Priestley’s former Liverpool St cafe Pilgrim was gutted by fire in August last year, forcing the closure of the cafe and associated burger eatery the Standard.