Chef’s exit opens opportunity at Toolangi Hotel

Last drinks have been called once more in Toolangi.

The Yarra Valley township about 15 minutes drive out of Healesville spent decades without a local watering hole when the Toolangi Hotel burned to the ground in 1975.

According to legend, locals managed to save the beer then, gathering at the charred site to give the pub a proper send-off.

What a view for a surf ’n’ turf.

The site is on a 1.92ha block.

Fast forward to 2020 and locals are once again forced to look further afield to quench their thirst, after the closure of the Toolangi Tavern.

The 100-seat pub at 1390 Myers Creek Rd, which also has a four-bedroom house and single bedroom unit on site, is expected to fetch around $1 million when it goes under the hammer on March 5.

Bell Real Estate Yarra Valley agent Leah Bannerman says the tavern, which opened just over a decade ago, is up for sale after the business owner and head chef walked out.

The pub’s industrial kitchen.

Timber-topped bar front.

“They walked out – they were leasing the entire property,” he says.

“The people who built it brought the house and it had the Toolongi general store, they built the tavern and started the business before selling it to the head chef. He had purchased the business and leased the property.”

The tavern was a regular spot for locals, trail bikers and four-wheel drivers out taking advantage of tracks around the national forest.

The property’s expected to sell around the $1 million mark.

It’s a stylish, rustic country pub.

“It’s a really nice Sunday, fun-day type of place,” Bannerman says. “Sitting on the back deck with the bi-fold windows open … the outlook is beautiful.”

“I’ve been there doing open-for-inspections and I had about 10 four-wheel drives pull up and say, ‘oh my god, you’re open.’ It’s a very loved place by the locals.”

Bannerman says she expects a Melbourne buyer to swoop on the property.

“There’s so much potential there – it’s mind-boggling,” she says.

This article from Leader Newspapers originally appeared as “Chef walkout leaves Yarra Valley’s Toolangi Tavern up for grabs”.