Last drinks on hold: Heritage move may save iconic John Curtin Hotel

Melbourne’s iconic John Curtin Hotel might not be calling last drinks as expected.

That’s because the pub, central to the labour movement and one of the city’s most important live music venues looks set to be added to Victoria’s heritage register.

The venue was sold in April for under the $6 million asking price to an anonymous buyer believed to be from overseas and who was likely to redevelop the site. The current operator had been granted a short-term lease until November 2022, sparking concerns it may be lost as a pub and Melbourne institution.

Heritage Victoria, the state heritage agency has recommended the Curtin, be included in the Victorian Heritage Register in the category of registered place.

If the venue is added to the register, it would be ”extraordinarily difficult” for the purchaser to substantially change the two-storey brick hotel, inside or out, according to Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari.

Trades Hall and the National Trust of Australia had jointly nominated the Curtin for its cultural and historical significance.

It cited the pub’s significance to the course of Victorian history, its strong association with the labour movement, its continuing role as a live music venue and links with a number of significant people in Victorian history, including former prime minister Bob Hawke.

Member for Maribyrnong Bill Shorten, Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews, and former Victorian premier Steve Bracks pictured enjoying a beer at the unofficial wake for Bob Hawke inside the John Curtin Hotel in 2019. Picture: Getty

Mr Hawke frequented the Curtin in his formative years with the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the pub hosted the unofficial wake after his death in 2019.

Cultural and historical significance cited

National Trust of Australia executive advocacy manager Felicity Watson said as an unofficial annex to Trades Hall on Lygon Street, the Curtin had hosted conversations and events that influenced the course of Victoria’s and Australia’s history.

She said it was vital to protect it not just for its physical historical importance, but for its ongoing role as a meeting place for the labour movement and one of Melbourne’s most important live music venues.

The John Curtin Hotel sold to an unknown buyer several months ago. Picture:realcommercial.com.au

Ms Watson said while a City of Melbourne heritage overlay was already in place on the Curtin, adding it to the state’s heritage register would apply an extra layer of protection, for not just the façade but also to the interior of the pub.

”The recommendation identified things inside, such as the bar, the things that make a pub a pub, as worthy of protection,” she said.

A spokesperson for CBRE, which managed the sale, declined to reveal the buyer’s identity or respond to questions.

Community campaign to save Melbourne institution

The recommendation from Heritage Victoria comes in the wake of a campaign by those in the labour movement, live music fans and locals to rescue to pub which many feared could be knocked down as part of a redevelopment of the Carlton site.

Mr Hilakari said a formal heritage listing would place legal obligations on the owner to protect and maintain the 160-year-old property in line with its heritage values.

”In short, it would be extraordinarily difficult for the developer to do anything substantial on the site, which has been a part of the fabric of working-class history in Victoria for over 100 years and why there has been such a strong campaign to save it,” he said.

The Curtin is seen as an important live music venue in Melbourne and it has long been associated with the city’s union movement. Picture: realcommercial.com.au/sold

Mr Hilakari said he expects the owner to object to the listing and for hundreds of others to support it. The union is confident the recommendation will ultimately be accepted.

”We would like the owner to unmask themselves and have a conversation with us. We’re not opposed to development, we have construction workers in our movement after all, but we want it to be appropriate. Preserving it as a pub and a live music venue is important to us.

”Given the developer might not now be able to realise their ambition for the site, we may be able to help them find another purchaser. At this point, our needs are aligned. They thought they were buying a pub but they ended up with a big problem,” Mr Hilakari said.

A final decision will be made by the independent Heritage Council of Victoria in the coming months, with submissions now open until September 20.