Bendigo Hotel | Collingwood NOW OPEN Bendigo Hotel | Collingwood NOW OPEN

The Bendigo Hotel is an iconic live music venue in Collingwood, known for its late-night performances and dive-bar atmosphere - now under the new ownership of The Mill Brewery.

Despite its moniker, Bendigo Hotel is located in Collingwood, one of Melbourne's oldest suburbs and the heart of its music community.

The building itself boasts gorgeous Art Nouveau influenced architecture by Sydney Smith & Ogg, and is now home to one of the city's liveliest music venues.

Reviving a Collingwood Legend

The Bendigo Hotel, affectionately known as The Bendi, serves as an inclusive hub for great live music and great beer in Melbourne. The Mill Brewery's relocation to this beloved venue signifies a new chapter for both the brewery and the live music scene in the area.

The Bendigo Hotel Reimagined

The Bendigo Hotel now offers more than just a late-night band room, featuring several inviting spaces: a cosy front bar, a lounge with a fireplace, pool table and 'Altered Beast' arcade machine, a dining room that transforms into a bandroom by night, and a sunny beer garden. And is dog friendly, of course.

On the kitchen side of things, food partner and fan-favourite Dingo Ate My Taco have an expanded tex mex style food menu, perfectly complementing the atmosphere - relaxed by day, lively by night.

The Mill Brewery beer taps are the prime focus in the newly outfitted front bar, lined with dark timber panelling and accented with deep tones of burgundy and black, creating a warmer environment by day while maintaining a dive pub vibe for gigs and late-night trade.

With The Mill spearheading this revival, The Bendi is set to continue its legacy as a central hub for live music and community in Collingwood.

The Bendigo Hotel
125 Johnston Street, Collingwood

Hours:
Wed to Sun 4pm-midnight
Fri & Sat midday-3am
Sun midday-11pm

broadsheet.com.au says..

Newly Revived Bendigo Hotel Is Now a Great Hangout (but Don't Worry, the Gigs Aren't Going Anywhere)

The bandroom has been upgraded and the front bar revamped. You'll now find birria tacos from Dingo Ate My Taco, free pool on Wednesdays and drinks until 3am.

"Even with everything we've done, we love when people come in and say it feels like nothing's changed," Mirek Aldridge tells Broadsheet, referring to The Bendigo, the live music venue he and partner Larissa Spijkerbosch recently re-opened. "This place has a real legacy," Spijkerbosch adds.

Aldridge and Spijkerbosch - respectively the founder and marketing manager of independent brewery The Mill - say they were among the first to reach out when The Bendigo announced its closure in March this year. The venue's previous owner, Guy Palermo, who had spoken publicly about the challenges live music venues faced during Covid-19 lockdowns, was forced to close it due to ongoing financial difficulties.

The Bendigo - or the Bendi as it's often called - was well-known for metal and hard rock gigs. "It's important for us to honour what the Bendi was," Spijkerbosch says, noting that rather than overhaul the venue, they wanted to strip things back.

The dive-y black spray paint has been stripped out of the pool room, revealing exposed brick and the original pressed metal ceiling. The front bar was the only major rebuild, and the pair have "found old things to repurpose," as Aldridge puts it, including polaroids from the Sackville Street staff, bits from The Mill and even the Bendi skull tap decals.

The main bandroom has been upgraded with a custom sound system and there's an upstairs function area that doubles as a second smaller band space with room for 80.

While people were unlikely to stop by the previous iteration unless they were going to a gig, the new owners hope the Bendi is now a venue where people can hang out and play pool, watch the footy and sit in the dog-friendly beer garden with a few pints and tacos.

The Mill, which has its main brewery operations in Thomastown, closed its smaller Sackville Street brewery and bar in Collingwood this August, just ahead of the lease's expiry. Aldridge and Spijkerbosch wheeled the gear down to the Bendi from Sackville Street and did the renovations mostly with the help of friends.

"Taking over the Bendi was a huge upgrade and progression for The Mill," Aldridge says. "It's the perfect space. We're keeping that brewery aspect alive. It's good for the brand and the staff - instead of closing down the brewery, everyone got to keep their jobs."

There are rotating taps of The Mill's core range and limited releases, as well as tinnies, including gluten free Twobays and classic Melbourne Bitter. Cocktails are straightforward drinks like Negronis, Espresso Martinis and spritzes. The wine list is dominated by fun, easy-drinking Australian vino, including local drops from Fin, Dirty Black Denim and Doom Juice, with whom The Mill will launch a collab brew on Saturday November 16.

Also staying is Dingo Ate My Taco, the taco truck and pop-up that operated at The Mill's old Sackville Street spot. There are birria tacos, brisket-loaded tots, wedge salads and soft tacos made with hand-pressed tortillas.

So far the relaunch has been warmly welcomed by the public. The team has extended Friday and Saturday hours to 3am, and re-opened the street-facing bottle shop between the front bar and the pool room.

Review by Kosa Monteith | broadsheet.com.au
Published on 13 November 2024

❊ Address ❊

 ℅ Yalla-birr-ang
 ⊜  125 Johnston Street Collingwood 3066 View Map
 ✆ Telephone: 0401 717 614

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❊ Web Links ❊

➼ Bendigo Hotel | Collingwood NOW OPEN 

➼ www.bendigohotel.com.au



The Bendigo Hotel respectfully acknowledges The Wurundjeri Woi Wurrungas people as the First Nations people of the Collingwood Precinct. ​




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