Council & Business
3 September, 2024
Lexton pub offer reaches stalemate
Many Lexton residents have been left upset and disappointed after a local steering committee has “given up” on their attempt to buy the Lexton Pyrenees Hotel.
The committee placed a “reasonable” non-binding offer to the current owner to foresee a community buyout of the hotel.
Despite these efforts, committee member Rob Johns said ambitions have stalled due to no formal communication from the owner regarding the current offer.
“We have basically given up on the thing,” he said.
“We had a committee member who was in communication with the owner often, and he had come back to us [and said] that [the owner] had a desire for the community to buy it.
“We never had a figure put to us — if we got anything back, it was nothing like ‘can you come up a little bit’.
“I know a little bit about pubs, I had one for 20 years, and I know the offer was more than what I would personally put to the owner.”
According to Mr Johns, the offer was “significantly above” what the current owner paid to purchase the hotel in June 2021 — which at the time was listed for $300,000 on a real estate website.
The hotel, first opened in 1859, abruptly closed on January 12, 2024, leaving the community without its focal meeting space .
In a bid to reopen the pub, a seven-member committee was formed to buy the hotel and place former publicans Kerrie and Phil Lee back into the hotel with around 60 residents pledging money to assist in the community buyout.
Mr Johns said the failed attempt to buy the pub has taken a noticeable toll on a community still reeling from its closure.
“I was quite disappointed and I think the whole community was really because they were all invested in the proposal to get it back in community hands,” he said.
“I know when it closed, people were sobbing, it was so sad to see and I don’t know what it’s done to the mental health of a few people.
“[Many] wanted to hold wakes there because that’s where the person that died spent most of their time and that was a happy place.
“People think that something has been wrenched from them, there are so many that are used to going to a pub — it was a bit of a ritual for a lot of people and there is no replacing that for some of the old people.”
As residents are unable to eat, drink and laugh at their usual grounds, the Lexton Community Hub approached Kerrie and Phil to assist volunteers in providing meals for residents.
While the hub doesn’t quite replicate the atmosphere of the historic hotel, Mr Johns said it provides an essential avenue for the community to connect.
“The president of the committee, Greg Fisher, saw the potential for Phil and Kerrie to come up and do Thursday to Saturday,” he said.
“They are getting good numbers up there all the time, so it’s filling the void — they are doing their best and we are doing our best to show our support for them.
“Even though the hub does provide that meeting place now, it’s not quite the same, the pub is the central point.”