In 2008 the Birmingham hotel on the corner of Smith St and Johnston St began a revitalisation process with the slogan ‘it’s not shit anymore’. In June 2009 Mess and Noise reported that the renewed venue was doing well. But now in November 2010 Mess and Noise has reported that the Birmingham will cease live music by the end of the month because it is not financially viable.
There are three basic business models for pubs: music, pokies or food. Pubs like The Punters Club, which focused on music, have long since become food oriented venues like Bimbo Deluxe. Pokies and gambling in general are a cancer on society and fortunately Fitzroy has many pokie free venues. Assuming they don’t want to try pokies, expect them to try to adopt a food oriented business model soon.
9 November 2010 at 9:04 pm
Thanks for the link (to my pokie-free pubs page)! You’ve got a great site here, I used to work on Vic Pde and Fitzroy was only a block or so away. We used to hit Umago at least once a week :)
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10 November 2010 at 9:00 pm
There is also another option: The drinks-focused pub. The Lambsgo and the Labour-in-vain are good examples.
Also, the food at some places is a complement to the quality drinks list whilst never going for the gastro-pub moniker eg Union Club, Rose and Napier.
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10 November 2010 at 10:22 pm
Good point, but the drinks oriented venue is relatively rare. Is there room for another in the area?
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11 November 2010 at 12:47 am
According to Melbournepubs.com, Lambsgo Bar will be closing and moving to the upstairs of the Rainbow hotel mid November.
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11 November 2010 at 12:58 am
From what I’ve heard, the Lambsgo crew have taken over management of the Rainbow, but this is a new twist – are they creating a separate bar upstairs? The closure of Lambsgo on Greeves St will be a loss :-(
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12 November 2010 at 3:31 pm
The upstairs bar at the Rainbow is news to me. I believe plans have been drawn up to re-arrange the interior downstairs..shifting stage, extending bar etc. I was at the rainbow last night and they have stopped piping the music to the beer garden..a big step forward if you are looking for a drink and chat in the summer months
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24 December 2010 at 5:51 pm
While the relocation of the Lambsgo to the Rainbow is welcome news, given the Rainbow’s long running issues with noise I somehow think their plan of having live gigs playing until 1 am is going to end in tears…
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