Red Lion pub owners avoid paying nearly $1m in beer garden debt

In 1988, the Red Lion live music haunt enclosed its noisy beer garden during construction of the swanky nearby Sheraton Hotel. Now, more than 30 years later, the former owners found themselves entangled in a messy, expensive debt.

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THE PROPRIETORS of 1980s live music haunt the Red Lion have managed to avoid paying a woman nearly a million dollars for money she lent them decades ago to enclose their noisy beer garden.

While the amount owing as of 1989 was only $17,557, the owners’ former close friend Marie Bukewitsch argued that with compound interest to 2018, they now owed her $902,669.

Ye Old Red Lion Hotel, which was located at Macquarie Street at the site of the current Old Woolstore hotel, closed in 1990.

The Red Lion Hotel has since been converted into luxury hotel The Old Woolstore.

But it was a key live music venue of its time, hosting famous bands including Nick Cave’s band The Birthday Party and local new-wave bands like The Magnificent Seven and Mr X.

In a Supreme Court of Tasmania case brought by Ms Bukewitsch’s son, defendants Stanley Goodman and Tony Jacobs said they wouldn’t “hoodwink” their friend and had paid her back in full by settling the mortgage on her West Moonah property before the Red Lion closed down.

But Acting Justice Shane Marshall said the owners didn’t have proof the loan was paid out in 1990, and failed to subpoena their bank for evidence.

He ordered they pay Ms Bukewitsch $81,973 – the original loan plus 15 per cent in simple, rather than compound, interest.

The court heard that Mr Jacobs, Mr Goodman and his son Scott bought the hotel in 1984.

But in 1986, during construction of the Sheraton Hotel – which is now the Grand Chancellor – “there was an issue concerning noise from the Red Lion’s beer garden”.

The men said Ms Bukewitsch suggested she could lend them money from her mother’s estate to enclose the beer garden, but with the pub’s imminent closure, Scott repaid the money back by cheque in 1990.

Mr Goodman said his son died in 2014 and that he shredded all of his documents, including paperwork relevant to the Red Lion.

However, a letter from Ms Bukewitsch’s bank showed her mortgage was paid off in 1988 and that she didn’t receive a payment two years later.

The Red Lion Hotel in Macquarie Street.

The men pointed to a number of “altruistic deeds” the Goodmans performed for her over the years, but Acting Justice Marshall said it was possible the outstanding amount was overlooked.

“It is possible that the defendants’ recollection of the events of 1987 to 1990 is faulty, given the passage of time,” he said.

The acting judge also ruled that a 12-year limitation period did not apply to the debt.

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