A push to re-open Romsey’s only pub has been renewed with a petition attracting nearly 2500 signatures since it launched last week.
The pub has sat dormant and boarded up for four years, and local residents say it is time for it to be restored and reopened or sold on.
Lead petitioner Sandra Chestnut told the Express residents were eager to see new life injected into the prominent High Street site.
“In a country town the pub is a real social hub. Like Gisborne, Romsey is growing – we’re not getting any smaller,” she said.
“We want to open the lines of communication. We want it reopened. We want a pub.”
The town’s only pub has a 150-year history but its last tenant shut the doors due to financial difficulties.
In 2009, owner Jim Hogan lost a prolonged battle for poker machines to be allowed in the hotel. Macedon Ranges Shire Council and a strong community lobby group opposed pokies coming to the town.
The fight went to the Supreme Court and the result effectively ended plans to expand and modernise the hotel on the site.
Last week Mr Hogan told the Express the pandemic had slowed any progress on the Romsey site as he focused on his establishments in Wallan and Bendigo.
“Since the pandemic I haven’t turned my mind to Romsey as I have been dealing with issues around COVID,” he said.
Mr Hogan estimated it could be six to 12 months before he makes a decision on the Romsey site.
In 2018, the council received a planning application to use the site for a camping and caravan park. It included a swimming pool and sought partial demolition of the existing building. The application was withdrawn by the applicant without it being decided.
Since then, Mr Hogan said he has been approached by multiple parties with different interests in the site. He said there was potential for the site to become a pub once more but the building required significant work.
“I did try pretty hard to develop it for years. I had a plan to redevelop the site. In Wallan I have a motel and hotel that employs 120 people. It’s what Romsey could have had and it’s unfortunate that the council did not want that to go ahead,” he said.
“Modern hotels need to be multi-faceted. For several years I did try to modernise the pub but to no avail. I do not want to fight councils. They either want a hotel or they don’t.”
“What happens with the site now is a question that sits with the council. I have had a lot of people approach me about the site.”
Now other ideas have emerged for the site, including potential for fast food outlets, boutique market, accommodation, town houses and office spaces, or a supermarket.
Mr Hogan said he was willing to talk with the council about preferred options for the site and he encouraged engagement with the community.
“I’m just the owner of the site. I am happy to hear from the community about what they want,” he said.
Macedon Ranges Shire Council met with the site’s owner Jim Hogan to discuss plans for the site earlier this year.
Council’s director of planning and environment, Angela Hughes, said the decision to re-open the site was the owner’s.
“The council can advocate to the owner to re-open the site as a pub or another activity (in compliance with the Planning Scheme), however, we cannot force the owner to do this. Ultimately, it is up to the landowner if he wants to re-open the site,” she said.
Resident Liz Dormontt said it was tragic to see the pub boarded up and unutilised.
“I don’t drink or gamble but I would really love to see a good family pub in the town. If that means the pokies come to town: big deal! The bulk of us just want a good communal meeting place,” she said.
The petition is available online at change.org
