Historic Waterside Hotel gets an overhaul
Historic Melbourne CBD pub the Waterside Hotel has been completely transformed by its new owners, the Sand Hill Road group.
The group, which also owns Flinders Lane’s Garden State Hotel, bought the landmark pub from a syndicate of AFL stars including Nick Riewoldt and Nathan Brown.
They have now officially re-opened the pub hotel which sits on the corner of Flinders and King Streets.
And the space now looks very different featuring four different drinking and eating spaces across its three levels.
The spaces range from an American dive bar that serves hot dogs, tinnies and bottled cocktails through to a champagne and cocktail lounge.
On the ground floor, there is the traditional Aussie public bar. It’s now called the “Ale House” and it specialises in rare and largely American craft beers.
That’s where patrons will also find the “Chophouse” serving quality cuts of meat expertly grilled by former QT Melbourne, Cumulus and Merricote head chef Stuart Munro.
There’s even a piece of the Espy, the live music landmark in St Kilda, which Sand Hill Road bought at the same time as the Waterside in February.
That’s in the eatery featuring with four large booth seats transported from The Espy’s famed Gerswhin Room, where SBS music quiz show RocKwiz was filmed.
Added to all that is the late-night bar known as the “Doghouse”.
It’s a mix a between an American dive bar and sports bar, offering patrons gourmet hot dogs, tinnies and bottled cocktails.
The champagne and cocktail bar the “Bubblehouse” sits on the next floor up.
And on the top level, there’s rooftop bar “The Roof”, formerly known as The Deck.
The Waterside is one of Melbourne’s most historically significant pubs, dating back to 1853, when it was known as the Mercantile.
It was the first port of call to Melbourne from the Yarra River.
by Leon Gettler, October 23rd 2017
