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For many, the idea of owning a pub rarely progresses from emboldened chatter at their local watering hole. If the grim reality of the following morning's hangover doesn't put pay to the pipedream, the endless practicalities – the raising of capital, the prospect of quitting your job, the battling of bureaucracy and actually finding a place that might make money after you've overcooked your wallet on renovations – soon will.

While ambitious types continue popping up with fandangled facades, on-trend interiors and quirky cocktail menus, the tail-chasing invariably becomes too much. Longevity in the modern pub-ownership game falls on precious few – such as the the Melbourne Pub Group, who recently opened Acland Street's Cantina Bar, the Griggs group who rejuvenated the Royston in Richmond, and the Sand Hill Road group whose projects include the recently reopened Terminus in Richmond.

Not that owning a pub was a collective desire for the Sand Hill Road group's Andy and Matt Mullins, Tom Bird and Doug Maskiell when they started out in the late 1990s.

"It was more Doug's dream; he was the only one with hospitality experience," says Andy Mullins, who takes lead of business development. "Owning a business was always our dream – and the pub scene seemed like a great fit when the chance was given to us."

Andy says they had "zero money" but possessed sales smarts. "We put the call out to a bunch of friends with a 75-page business plan for a backwater pub in Fitzroy – the Commercial Club Hotel – and sold them the dream of owning the pub. Our mates chipped in $1000 lots and that raised enough to help buy it. Back in 2000, it was our original way of crowd-sourcing – without realising we were doing it."

Fourteen years and nine – soon to be 10 – pubs later and the quartet have cut a steady swathe through Melbourne's hospitality scene with their traditional-meets-modern brand of pub. Within 12 months of the purchase of the Commercial Club Hotel (which they sold in 2003) they had snared two more venues (The Loft in the CBD, and Richmond's Holliava) and throughout the noughties added several others, including the Richmond Club Hotel, to their portfolio. "If all four of us were from the pub industry we may have fallen into the traps that so many good mates and industry people fall into – which is 24-7 in the pubs," Andy says. "It was always about growth; even though this has slowed down in recent years as we take on bigger sites."

Andy is referring to their past three purchases: the Bridge Hotel in Richmond; the Prahran Hotel; and, most recently, Abbotsford's Terminus Hotel. The latter two, in particular, were favourite haunts when living together in nearby sharehouses in the '90s. "These are the pubs that shaped our adult life, so we jumped at the chance to restore them," Matt Mullins, who "specialises in the design side of things but is across everything", says.

It's the excitement of this balancing act – responding to the modern-day market while retaining the nostalgia and fabric of the old pubs – that drives the group. "Our innate first response for all our pubs is to always try to keep their original character – and as much of the original building – as we can," says Matt. "We are attracted to pubs with character and personality; and all the pubs we own have long history, beautiful personality and rich texture and character. Our aim, if we can, is to complement what is already there; always making something new around something old".

After handling the first few renovations themselves, architects Techne have worked their magic on around 20 projects since, as well as each of their houses.

Birch, the group's financial controller, says there are "non-negotiables" – a public bar ("You can play around with some of the stuff on the fringes but at the heart of any pub is the public bar"), a beer garden, a lounge space and bistro – but they're open to points of difference. "We've always said to our architects: bring us the normal stuff, and also bring us something crazy."

This resulted in extreme makeovers at the Prahran Hotel, including an imposing concrete-pipe facade, and the Bridge Hotel, which offers an eclectic hideaway of public rooms and stairwells that flank a "bluestone laneway running straight through the guts of the pub".

The top-to-bottom renovation at the now-500-capacity Terminus, despite an airy, extravagant main bar and two-level "urban jungle" beer garden, is a little less loud, in keeping with their vow to retain the previous version's soul. Though boutique brewers dominate the taps, the place positions itself as a Carlton Draught outlet first and foremost (unpasteurised beer direct from the nearby CUB brewery is stored in brass vats), and bingo night is back and in full – and strident – stride.

They haven't shied away from the distinctive green facade, either, even touching up the upstairs beer garden chairs with the lime shade. Matt quips: "Our painters came by for touch-ups and couldn't find a matching colour. After getting it mixed at the shop they called the painter to say, 'mate, we've made your paint but there's something wrong with it: no one would ever put this on a wall!' Our painter said: 'That's the one! Ship it out!'"

Their efforts have paid off, with Terminus diehards generally giving the makeover the thumbs up. "We had a few guys with bits of old memorabilia – including the big kangaroo tea towel – ring to say they're going to return it. They were waiting to see if the new pub was worthy of having the old stuff back."

Matt says this sort of camaraderie from existing customers has been a recurring theme. "There's always attention from those who remember our pubs five, 10 years ago, and loved them for what they were – and you'd love to think that you'd never upset a single one of those people. The reality is, when we took over these pubs, they were dead. In order to bring a pub alive again, you've got to do something to it. We are trying to make these pubs sustainable for the next 40 years; we want to make them part of communities for decades, rather than let them disappear and be turned into apartments."

Also possessing a knack for rejuvenating dive bars are gastropub pioneers Melbourne Pub Group. Prior to establishing in 2002, the group's three-strong directorship – comprising prominent hoteliers Tom Walker and Julian Gerner and businessman Gerry Ryan – had regular discussions about bringing the English "boutique pub" model to Melbourne.

Says Walker: "In the UK, classic 'pub grub' was being infused with standout produce and accompanied by stellar wines and beer. While decent pub food wasn't totally foreign to Melbourne, it was largely fragmented: there were obvious gaps in the market. We knew that a business group based around the English model wouldn't go unnoticed."

As history shows, it hasn't. Gastropubs have become almost as synonymous to Melbourne's culture as laneway cafes and footy, and their emergence has forced historically average places to up the ante. But for Melbourne Pub Group, it was simply about bringing good food and drink to comfortable environs.

Like the Sand Hill Road boys, they have a go-to practice for design, Six Degrees Architects, who are tasked with "creating an environment as memorable as the food and beverage". Walker says the prolific Melbourne-based outfit have been "paramount to the success" of their impressive rollcall of venues, from the two recently sold grand corner pubs of the inner-south, the 1880s-established Albert Park and Middle Park Hotels, to their newest baby, the plush, low-lit Mexican saloon that is Acland Street's Cantina Bar.

In the case of St Kilda's Newmarket Hotel, a "quintessential suburban pub" made urban-cool, whose grandeur extends to the ritzy, cocktail-come-cabaret Cellar Bar upstairs, it was presented with the 2011 AIA Victoria Interior Architecture Award. But it wasn't until late 2011 that the group landed their biggest St Kilda fish: the Prince of Wales, an iconic venue of myriad possibilities. "From a hatted restaurant, to a grungy public bar and gig venue, to boutique accommodation and more, the acquisition more than tripled the group's existing portfolio," Walker says.

While on the surface an unusual pairing, concerns the Prince's rock and roll spirit might diminish have been alleviated, with the Bandroom still a magnet for up-and-coming local and international acts, and the main bar largely unaltered. "The public bar has always been an iconic and beautiful space and, of course, we wanted to retain that as much as possible," Walker says. "Where we felt it was lacking was in terms of comfort, the general display and the strength of the overall product."

As such, the back bar display was updated, while booths have been installed along the wall to offer more of a relaxed feel. "The slight changes were all about offering more prominence than in the past," Walker says.

Walker says despite the group's success, hospitality in Melbourne remains a very competitive and always-changing environment. "There are several younger operators around town with strong and interesting views on where hospitality sits – the industry is as exciting and relevant as it ever has been," he says.

Part of this excitement is the emergence of craft beer – now accounting for roughly three per cent of overall sales in Australia, an always-growing number that may appear low given its coverage in recent years – and leading the charge is the Griggs group: managing director Russell Griggs and his siblings Paul, Stephen and Alison Clarke; and general manager Edward Harley.

Their first venture – the Royston Hotel – is widely acknowledged as Melbourne's first solely craft pub. "Ten years ago, there wasn't a lot of craft beer around but I knew the Mountain Goat boys really well. The Royston was near their brewery and they pointed me towards it so it made sense [to go craft]," Russell says.

He says the decision to turn over the renovated pub's taps to home-grown boutiques was not initially received well. "It was risky, and we got enough flak about not having Carlton on tap that we put it back on after about two months. It was only one tap out of 10 but it calmed everyone down. But when we took it off again a few years ago, there was no reaction."

In 2008, the group acquired the Terminus in Clifton Hill. The beer list was overhauled and more taps were installed, and a renovation in 2012 of the 160-year-old building saw a new beer garden built and the pub split into two, with a new, spit-polished blonde-wood bar (now the Good Beer Week hub) accompanying the existing bar. "I love the fact that even though we created the beautiful new craft bar and beer garden, the old-school public bar is still just as popular. Not everything has to be shiny and new," Griggs says.

With their latest venture, the vast and lively Forester's Beer and Music Hall, on the site of former nightspot A Bar Called Barry, they have taken the craft revolution to the next level, with 32 taps of multi-shaded lagers, sours, stouts and ales – and no Carlton.

Though Griggs says this ambitious project utilised the expertise of architects and shopfitters, it wasn't always the case. "I used to design everything myself," he says. "The Royston is a good example. I determined how it would look: I did the painting myself; I chose the $20 light fittings from Bunnings, and the furnishings and decorations. I got a handyman to help with anything structural. There wasn't a lot of planning and I'd make decisions on the fly. So I'd laugh when people would ask: 'Wow, who designed this place?"'

But while design considerations are increasingly at the forefront of pub owners' minds, they remain only one part of the complete package. For Griggs, good pubs have "soul", and this can be "any combination of food, booze, entertainment, furniture, atmosphere, lighting and the people on both sides of the bar".

Andy Mullins, meanwhile, is a little more direct: "A cool design serves no purpose unless it's offering something to the people who are there to enjoy it. There's plenty of good-looking empty pubs; and plenty of s--t-looking full pubs."

Worth a visit

LOCAL TAPHOUSE
A major refurbishment in 2008 saw The St Kilda Local, a no-frills neighbourhood pub, reborn as the award-winning Local Taphouse, a sophisticated watering hole that attracts all beer-nuts worth their salt. Sister to the Local Taphouse in Darlinghurst.
184 Carlisle Street, St Kilda East 9537 2633

PLOUGH HOTEL
As far as Footscray gastropubs go, the Station Hotel was on easy street until the Plough reopened last year. The 150-year-old venue's lavish, neutral-coloured makeover complements a seasonal menu and drinks showcasing Victoria's best breweries and wineries.
333 Barkly Street, Footscray 9687 2878

THE PARK HOTEL
Werribee's a hike for many, but the Park Hotel – transformed to a voluminous, industrial-strength beer hall by director Isaac Zietek and cohort Nick Christou in 2012 – makes the trip worth it. Barkeeps will happily help you
navigate the 400-strong beer list.
12 Watton Street, Werribee 9741 1441

POST OFFICE HOTEL
Even rock dogs tire of sticky carpet. While the revamped Post Office Hotel – helmed by Tex Perkins and Dallas Crane members – remains a lesson in controlled chaos, the barn-like space was recently modernised with exposed brick, polished timber, pendant lights and a food focus.
229 Sydney Road, Coburg 9386 5300

BUILDERS ARMS HOTEL
Alongside the custodianship of Andrew McConnell and others, in-crowd Prahran designers Projects of Imagination unveiled a crisp, clean makeover of this Fitzroy institution in 2012 – think white walls and dark wooden floors. Recent additions include the elegant Moon Under Water restaurant.
211 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy 9417 7700