Venues always open and close as trends in the pub industry. With this came the closure and relaunch of The Royal Hotel in Leichhardt in mid September with brand spanking new look and ways of offering its customers a great time. I spoke with The Royal’s General Manager, Mark Chapman, about all the great changes that customers can expect to soon see.
1. How long did it take to get The Royal ready for its upcoming opening? A lot of work would have gone into this.
We started on the first of July, tweaking and changing the venue, not wanting to make too drastic an impact because of its local base’s familiarity with the venue. There were just some changes the pub needed to give it a new look, like a coat of paint and adjustments to the bar.
2. Can you tell us a bit about the changes to The Royal? There is a new upstairs dining area, terrace and refurnished bar space, and function areas.
Upstairs has always had its bar, but it had been underutilised. It hadn’t been open for day to day usage for 10 years. We reactivated that for the public, and gave it a different look and feel. It’ll be another nice area, family friendly and a new area for customers to enjoy.
3. Tell me a bit about the bar space. What’s the décor like, and what type of beverages will it serve?
It’s got a good cocktail list, draft beer, craft beer and cider range. It has an extension of wine list from downstairs to tie into theme of upstairs.
4. What type of functions can be held at The Royal, and how many people can it cater for?
It can cater from 10-100 people. It’s a small area for mainly dinner and birthday functions.
5. How did you come into contact with the new head chef Manish Shrestha? What type of food will customers expect at The Royal?
Manish worked at one of our other hotels, we identified his food as good, solid warm pub food, like burgers and parmas. There’s great dining options in the area, so we wanted some traditional pub stables, chick schnitzel, grilled fish, traditional pub style menu with good value meals. Customers will know what they’re getting when they come to The Royal.
6. The Royal has a bottle shop next to it. Most bottle shops will sell big brand beers like VB, Carlton Draught, etc. What was the reason behind the decision to sell craft beers and wines?
Myself and the owner had a background in craft beer market, also a bit of internation craft beer. People are wanting these types of beers now, they’re more educated with beer now. It’s not a vast selection, just some different beers and we’ll rotate those around.
The Royal Hotel is at 156 Norton Street, Leichhardt, and will be open for business in mid September.
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