Hope yet for the Hoey?

“The Hopetown (sic) is closed until further notice” – the last message, at least for the moment, to grace the doors of a Surry Hills icon.

Taking artists, patrons, booking agents and Council by surprise, the ‘Hoey’ shut up shop on Monday night, and was already boarded up by Tuesday afternoon.

NSW Police had recently issued $3,000 worth of penalty infringement notices to the Hopetoun within a week, regarding their failure to provide adequate security personnel in accordance with their development consent, as required by Council.

A spokesperson for the Hopetoun said Tuesday the venue would be shut for at least three months while rectification work was carried out to bring the venue in line with Council standards.

But the City of Sydney said it had not issued any order for the premises to close down, and said, “the decision to close the Hopetoun appears to have been made by hotel management.” It added it had been working with the licensee of the Hopetoun for the past few months to allow them to keep trading while maintaining public safety, and would, “continue to work with [them] to resolve safety issues concerning CCTV security and structural deficiencies.”

Questions also remain over the sudden and unannounced nature of the closure.

Hotel co-owner Evangelos Patakas failed to respond to requests for comment.

A “Save the Hopetoun Hotel” group on facebook had already gathered over 7,500 members by early Wednesday morning.

But while the overwhelming majority of posts expressed support for the venue, some were downbeat about the iconic venue’s future.

“The costs involve[d] could be millions,” said ‘Loren’. “The Hoey just does not have the income to be able to do any of this. They have tried to sell before but had no takers.”

The Hopetoun is noted within the city as a major live music venue, with a host of well-known acts having performed there over the years. These included Dappled Cities, Youth Group, Paul Kelly, You Am I, Sarah Blasko, Ed Kuepper and the Whitlams.