Future of historic Victorian pub revealed

A social media post announced the closure of a famous Western District pub, but it’s owners have detailed the future of the venue. See the latest.

The Elephant Bridge Hotel, at Darlington, is set to reopen in the coming weeks with new publicans.

The future of a historic pub in Victoria’s Western District has been revealed after an announcement the venue was set to close its doors.

On Thursday afternoon the Elephant Bridge Hotel, at Darlington, announced it would be permanently closing via a post on their Facebook page.

“It is with a heavy heart I have to announce that the Elephant Bridge Hotel will be permanently closed as of today onwards and we will no longer be your publicans,” the post said.

“I cannot disclose details as to why, but I can assure you all it was not our decision. We have loved serving everyone over the last 15 months and had hoped it would be for many more years to come. Unfortunately another small town has lost its pub.”

However, the owners of the Elephant Bridge Hotel told The Weekly Times they plan to reopen the venue in the coming weeks with new tenants in place.

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In January 2022, Western District farming family, Charlie Mann and wife Lal purchased the Elephant Bridge Hotel.

The Mann family are prominent sheep, beef and cropping growers and live at the family property, Larra, near Derrinallum.

Prior to the Manns, the venue’s previous owner was Karin Blomquist who completed extensive renovations on the hotel.

The Elephant Bridge Hotel is one of Victoria’s oldest continuously licensed establishments, with the first drinks being served in 1842.

Located next to the Mt Emu Creek, the building has a spooky reputation with historical reports of being haunted and ghost sightings.