Richie Ludbrook knew there’d be unexpected discoveries when his team started renovating Brunswick’s Railway Hotel.
Its most recent chapter, primarily as an electronic music venue, ended in 2016 when pub landlord Chris Lytras was arrested for selling ice and cocaine to undercover police officers. Lytras was later jailed for 10 years.
Co-owner Richie Ludbrook, who will reopen the storied Railway Hotel next month after six years with the taps off.Credit: Justin McManus
Previous chapters of the hotel’s history read more like a book of short stories than a cohesive novel: since opening in the 1880s, the three-storey Melbourne establishment has served as a hostel, television studio, bookmakers’ office, pub and, depending who you ask, a morgue.
“It had a few makeshift renovations over the years. There was a bottle shop added without planning approval, which we think happened in the ’70s,” Mr Ludbrook said.
“Inside, we found hidey-holes. There are stairs where you click a button, they raise up and there’s a room. On a shower upstairs, once you turn the tap the whole wall comes out and you can step into an elevator shaft. We’ve left those things there, so we can show interested people along the way.”
Next month, Riverland Group – co-owned by Mr Ludbrook – will reopen “The Railway” as a 960-capacity pub after six years with the taps off.
The shower trapdoor that leads into an elevator shaft - one of several unexpected discoveres.Credit: Justin McManus
He wonders what they would have uncovered if not for two rounds of gutting by squatters.
“We signed the lease deal in September 2017 and because of how it had been utilised, we had to show the police and council that it wouldn’t have the same use and demographic as previously,” said Mr Ludbrook, whose company owns five other Melbourne venues including Riverland Bar by the Yarra.
“By the time we got in, there’d been continual break-ins. People had ripped up every second floorboard, broken every window, spray-painted every wall, burnt every stair bannister. It was a wreck to be honest.”
They were preparing to open the doors in late 2019 until COVID-19 arrived months later, halting construction for a year.
In its previous incarnation, the Railway Hotel was an electronic dance music venue, pictured here in 2015.Credit: Paul Jeffers
“In that time vandals got back in again. They removed all the wiring we’d put in, broke all the glass. At that point, we all felt a bit broken. We didn’t see how we could continue because all our other hospitality businesses were still closed,” Mr Ludbrook said.
The venue will open on March 11 with indoor and outdoor bars, two restaurants and a “late-night vinyl-spinning cocktail bar”. The sprawling upstairs rooms will probably be converted into function spaces and offices for local start-ups in the coming months, Mr Ludbrook said.
In the meantime, he’s looking forward to hearing more tales from local stalwarts.
“One guy in his 60s came past and said his dad was a starting price bookmaker, meaning horses would come through this horse-drawn carriage entrance into the venue for valuation,” Mr Ludbrook said.
The entire ground floor, including the front bar (pictured), has been given a facelift.Credit: Justin McManus
“The entrance was bricked up but we’ve refurbished it into the main entrance. We’ve read historical accounts that the basement was used to store bodies because it was cool down there. There are so many layers – people have also told us there’s a ghost in there.”
Lindsay Anderson also knows the ghost story. He lived and worked at Railway Hotel between 2003 and 2010, when bikies and backpackers regularly enjoyed the pub’s 24-hour licence.
“Colleagues would tell these scary stories of hearing things moving when you’re by yourself, then you turn around and nothing’s there,” Mr Anderson said.
The Musicians Union of Australia was based at the pub during Mr Anderson’s stint, when Noise TV – a weekly show on community station Channel 31 hosted by Tritia DeVisha that showcased up-and-coming bands – was also filmed in a converted studio.
Much of the Railway Hotel had sunk into derelict condition when the new owners started renovating.
“The front doorstep is bluestone, and if you look closely it has indentations from so many feet over the years,” Mr Anderson said.
“I definitely think I’ll go back and see what they’ve done with it.”
Mr Ludbrook wants the new Railway Hotel to be a community hub where everyone feels welcome. Including comedian Mick Molloy, his mate of 25 years who’s bought into the pub.
“He certainly knows his way around the other side of the bar,” laughs the co-owner.
There’s no drinks named after Mr Molloy, but there is one in honour of Furio – the pub’s former “caretaker”.
“Furio was homeless, he convinced us to let him stay during the renovations. He’d often ring us saying ‘someone’s broken in and stolen things but I chased them away’. This went on for a year,” Mr Ludbrook said.
“Everything kept disappearing, pipes were getting pulled off the roof. Then one day we saw him wheeling a shopping trolley full of copper and lead down the street, it was Furio the whole time. So there’s a cocktail named after him: ‘Funkn Furio’.”
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