The Terminus Hotel
605 Victoria Street, Abbotsford
theterminushotel.com.au
As committed drinkers here at Australian Bartender, we always think it’s a sad day when a venue is knocked down to make way for another 7-Eleven or a Toni & Guy. It’s a terrible use of space.
And if that space had served as a meeting point for generations of drinkers, it’s all just that little bit worse. So were heartened to hear that the Terminus Hotel, in the Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford a couple of clicks east of the CBD, was saved from demolition by the Sand Hill Road hospitality group.
“When we all heard the Terminus Hotel was slated for demolition we decided then and there we had to try and save it. Having lived in nearby Buckingham Street for years, the Terminus was our local and it’s an institution none of us wanted to see disappear,” said Matt Mullins, who along with Andy Mullins, Tom Birch and Doug Muskell, is one of the owners of Sand Hill Road.
They’ve just reopened the pub this past weekend, showing off a thoughtful renovation (check out the pictures below) and keeping the aspects that made it a local that they loved.
“Our aim is to make this incarnation of the Terminus as precious to this generation as the old Terminus was for us in the 1990s –bingo night and all!” said Mullins.
The group has form in reinventing some of Melbourne’s institutions, having applied their touch to the Prahran Hotel last year.
Updated pub classics will feature on the food menu, and they’ve reimagined the first floor space as “the Paris Tropical,” which they describe as a “classic roaring 1920s Parisian watering hole [which] has been designed with an air of extravagance, a hint of fun, and a dance floor that comes alive on Friday and Saturday nights.”
Take a look at the fit-out below.
