BY KENJI SATO
Beers, cheers, and tears overflowed at the Alexandria Hotel last Sunday, December 20th, as hundreds of people turned up to commemorate the hotel’s final day of trading.
Crowds of loyal patrons filled the pub and beer garden, tipsily, and tearfully raising their glasses in tribute to 14 years of service.
The hotel’s manager, Harry McAsey, was forced to close the pub after his applications to renew the hotel’s lease were rejected by the building’s new owners, who have been attempting to demolish the hotel in favour of apartments.
But the plans for demolition have been thwarted for now, after the City of Sydney Council issued an Interim Heritage Order that will temporarily protect the hotel until July next year.
During that time the hotel will be assessed for heritage value, and council will decide whether the building should be permanently protected under a heritage listing.
The heritage order came after a community group, “Save the Alexandria Hotel”, sent hundreds of letters to councillors, urging them to save their beloved hotel.
Alexandria Hotel manager Harry McAsey told City Hub that he was “amazed” at the level of community support the hotel had received.
“It’s surprising that the hotel has touched so many people’s lives. People are getting more emotional than I thought,” he said.
Mr McAsey spent his final hours as hotel manager solemnly shaking hands with old customers and long-time supporters.
“I’m just so proud there’s so many people here today paying their last respects. It’s been a home to families, children, dogs, and pets. We just love the hotel, and it’s like a village atmosphere. After 14 years, I think it’s done a wonderful community service.”
Mr McAsey told City Hub that he was optimistic that the hotel would be heritage listed and reopened as a hotel in the spirit of the current one.
“The council is on the side of the community and we hope the hotel still lives. The developer will apply for a second development application, since the first one got knocked back. But the residents and locals will continue to fight hard to keep the hotel. It’s going to be a long battle.”
Lisa Rouhliadeff-Coe was one of the locals who came down for one last hurrah at the beleaguered venue. She has been a staunch supporter of the Save the Alexandria Hotel, stuffing neighbours letterboxes with notices alerting them to the imminent closure of the venue. She told City Hub that she wanted the Alex (as it is known to locals) to be around for the family she hoped to have in the future. But she was confident it would live on.
“Sooner or later we’ll be able to find someone else that will reopen it as a pub, because the community does rely on it. After all the developments going on in this area, this is the only pub left,” she said.
“If this goes, the village atmosphere is gone. It’s going to be like Victoria Park. Completely soulless, because everyone keeps to their own business, and everyone’s faceless. There’s no community spirit.”
Ms Rouhliadeff-Coe told City Hub that for cramped apartment-dwellers like herself, the Alexandria Hotel was a good watering hole, and that the “little hipster bars” one finds in the CBD were “not the same”.
“This has been a central part of our lives. There is no space we can go to anymore,” she said.
Ben Aveling, the Co-convenor of community organisation Alexandria Residents’ Action Group, told City Hub that he was “99 per cent certain” that the building would get a heritage listing.
“It always had a strong case. Even with the shutters up, it’s a beautiful historic old building. When the heritage listing goes through, the developer plans will need to protect the heritage of the building,” he said.
But Mr Aveling told City Hub that a heritage listing alone would not guarantee that the Alexandria Hotel would be fully preserved.
“We know that the developers still want to build more than they’re allowed to under the rules. There are ways to get exemptions, and they will try to get them. The building may open as a pub with a block of flats in the back, or it may open as a larger hotel. We’ll see what they try to do.”
Mr Aveling said that trying to partially redevelop the Alexandria Hotel would be legally possible, but difficult to pull off in practice, due to an underground train line and a high water table underneath the hotel.
“Builders will tell you that that’s a bad combination,” he said.
“Still, there’s always a chance that the developments will go ahead. But the residents will continue to fight to protect the pub.”
The City of Sydney Council is seeking submissions regarding the Alexandria Hotel’s heritage listing until January 27th 2016 here: http://sydneyyoursay.com.au/alexandria-hotel-proposal-to-heritage-list
Centennial Property Group, the developer group that indirectly owns the Alexandria Hotel building, did not respond to City Hub’s request for a comment.
