Central Club Hotel - North Melbourne Central Club Hotel - North Melbourne

North Melbourne's newest pub revival!

Pub/Bar · Restaurant · Steakhouse

North Melbourne's newest pub revival featuring elevated market-to-table pub grub and your new favourites on tap. Sneak downstairs with a botanically infused cocktail or grab a pint in the public bar and watch the footy.

We're back with a new look and a new taste featuring a laid-back public bar, cosy dining quarters, and a sleek basement bar (opening mid winter '23).

Our warm industrial style interior reflects our values, with reclaimed timber from our original pub throughout.

Hours
Tues to Sat 12pm-11pm
Sun 12pm-7pm

broadsheet.com.au says

June 2023 - First Look: 150-Year-Old North Melbourne Pub Central Club Hotel Reopens After a Major Revamp

Enjoy under-the-radar Aussie wines and local spirits alongside hand-rolled pasta, chicken parmagiana and steaks from the grill at this pub opposite the Queen Vic Market. Spend the night chilling one of the "micro hotel rooms" upstairs or drinking in the soon-to-open basement whisky bar.

Visiting "every pub in Melbourne" in the name of research is a noble if extreme undertaking. But for publican Vincent Magrath, it was part of a quest to create his version of the ultimate pub at North Melbourne's historical Central Club Hotel, which reopened earlier this month.

In the two years Magrath spent on what might be the biggest pub crawl in history, his biggest takeaway was that pubs have to do a lot more than they used to. "The pub scene has changed," he told Broadsheet, "It has to be food focused".

Having worked as a wine-seller in Ireland before moving to Melbourne, where he spent over 10 years running a wine distribution business, Magrath knows his drinks.

The new list at Central Club Hotel - with the exception of Guinness, Magrath's "little sprinkle of Irishness" - is made up of entirely Australian beers, wines and spirits, and there's a particular focus on under-the-radar drops from producers like Thick As Thieves, Rouleur and Thistledown.

Cocktails and mixed drinks are made with local spirits - including Marionette Liqueur's amaretto and curacao, and the entire Archie Rose range - as well as non-alcoholic options from Lyre's.

Magrath "lost sleep" over the food menu. The result of many restless nights, it's an offering designed to please, with pub classics like fish'n'chips, fried chicken burgers and steaks from the grill alongside pastas and vegan options, such as pumpkin steak, a veggie burger and vegan chocolate mousse.

The pasta - used in dishes like beef-ragu fettuccine and crab linguini - is hand-rolled in-house, and steaks are sourced from suppliers at the market, including butcher Hagen's Organics.

Being across the street from the Queen Victoria Market means something to Magrath, who wants the pub to be a place where market workers hang out. He recalls a diner ordering the chicken parmigiana while the chicken farmer who supplied the meat sat across the room having a drink at the bar.

Downstairs is the Depot Bar - an intimate, jewel toned whisky bar in an old keg room - which is due to open later this winter. The name is a nod to the building's earlier life as a depot for horse-drawn taxis (Magrath says the place dates back to 1869), and the theme, loosely speaking, is "time". A drinks menu developed by bar manager Sam Rose will focus on whisky drinks and classic Prohibition-era cocktails. Framed newspaper clippings about the hotel will adorn the walls, reminding guests of the building's rich history.

The historic building recently underwent an extensive renovation. Bayley Ward Architects worked closely with Revival Project, a Collingwood-based organisation that helps developers repurpose materials removed from construction sites. Here they turned wood and other materials from the building into dining tables, servingware and embellishments - such as the wrought-iron fences that appear throughout.

There's also accommodation, with "micro hotel rooms" on the first floor.

Review by AUDREY PAYNE | broadsheet.com.au
Published on 14 June 2023

❊ Address ❊

 ⊜  240–248 Victoria Street,  North Melbourne  View Map
 ✆ Telephone: (03) 7068 1670

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❊ Web Links ❊

➼ Central Club Hotel - North Melbourne 

➼ www.centralclubhotel.com.au

❊ Also See... ❊

➼ Central Club Hotel - Richmond






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