TAG DESIGN & BUILD
The Australian dream Restaurateur Jessi Singh has always wanted to open a pub in Australia – and what better time than during a pandemic?
ABOVE: Mr Brownie runs across four levels, including a basement cocktail bar RIGHT PAGE, TOP TO BOTTOM: The Boom Boom Room cocktail bar The bottle shop carries 500+ beer SKUs The view from the rooftop bar The rooftop was at max capacity for the five days it was open
IT HAS always been Jessi Singh’s dream to open a
projects, and Singh found the area appealing,
pub. Born in India, he and his family immigrated to
and a great challenge.
regional Victoria where he first got a taste of what the local pub meant to the community. “The pub is a place of community check-in,
Melbourne, because it’s a bit lost in translation when it comes to hospitality. You’ve got Port
especially in rural areas. I experienced that, and I
Melbourne, South Bank, Albert Park – they’ve all
always wanted to be a part of that. That’s one of
got their little nooks, so not many people would go
my best memories of the Australian countryside,”
to South Melbourne as a hospitality hub.
reminisces Singh. Even now, living in metropolitan Melbourne,
“In the second week of March I counted 49 hospitality businesses up for lease in that street.
the ‘local’ is just that – a place where the local
I thought it would be a great challenge to open
community can catch-up at any time. So for him,
a business in the area — I could have massive
the decision to open a pub was more a personal
support from locals, because they were looking
one, rather than a business decision.
for a new venue.”
Operating several restaurants in Victoria, one in
22 | Australian Hotelier
“Beforehand I wouldn’t have considered South
Sydney and two in the United States, Singh turned
An opening of pandemic proportions
his attention to his pub aspirations about a year or
Of course, the timing meant that Singh took over
two ago. With pub real estate in high demand, it
the hotel in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
has been a long time on the hunt for a space, but he
With a transformation of the venue and the transfer
found the perfect South Melbourne spot early this
of a liquor license delayed, the hotel opened for
year. The hotel had been owned and operated by a
just five days, before on-premise trading was
developer who wanted to turn his attention to other
shutdown again.