New owners plan bright future for historic pub

From left, Club Hotel Namba Directors Josh Allen and Paul Harley and Venue Manager Mark Lean: “The potential for this place is amazing.”

As soon as they saw the Club Hotel in Nambour the two publicans couldn’t resist taking it on.

With over 50 years experience between them, Paul Harley and Josh Allen said the pub, which they will rename the Club Hotel Namba, had good bones and a presence in town that was irresistible.

“The potential for this place is amazing,” said Paul. “What Nambour doesn’t have is a big, open, family-friendly style hotel. We don’t have gaming, so that promotes a different atmosphere.”

And it wasn’t just the commercial potential of the hotel that appealed, but the prospect of helping to reinvigorate a great town.

“The community has been crying out for something like this,” said Josh. “There’s a perception about Nambour and there’s also been a long-term push to want to reinvigorate the town. And we sort of see ourselves as, perhaps, the start of what’s to come.

“There are examples all around Australia where one business has started a domino effect of more businesses moving into the area or people moving there because of it. We see it as our responsibility to bring new life to Nambour, that’s genuinely part of our vision.

“It’s going to be a community pub. We have already nicknamed it ‘the People’s Pub’, where ‘enlightened hospitality’ is our goal. We want people to feel comfortable, whether it’s family, a couple of tradies after work, or whatever walk of life they come from. That’s the point of us being here.”

Paul said part of the pair’s motivation derived from improving perceptions of “the great town of Nambour”.

“When I grew up in Wollongong, it was a bit the same. Nambour’s an old sugar mill town. My home town was a coal miner’s wharf town. Back then there was a bunch of us 30-something-year-olds at the time that wanted something more. And we all thought that if we wanted to spend our money and go out and have beers and good food, we wanted a nice comfortable and inviting place to do that. That really nice, polished atmosphere, is important and today is expected by people looking for a quality hotel/pub. That’s what we’re going to do for Nambour.”

So, how sure are they that they will succeed? 

“Any hotel involves risk,” said Paul. “But what’s needed for it to succeed is good beer, good pub food and a hell of a lot of hours and hard work. Within that, you have to surround yourself with the right people. Because it’s the hospitality industry, so you need hospitable people. And then you need to surround yourself with the right suppliers and other people to help us make it work. We think we can bring all that together.”

Longer term, Josh hoped locals would appreciate their plans to create something special over time. “We don’t want people to expect the Ritz Carlton as soon as we open the doors. This project is part of a bigger-picture plan”. 

One of those long term plans includes bringing special events to the pub by closing off the back carpark & Mill Street.

“Imagine white picket fencing along the street,” he said. “And the idea is that we’ll have local street food trucks, local musicians, artists and performers. And it will be this one big happy sort of street fair festival and hopefully add a bit more to Nambour life for locals and outside visitors. We’ve listened to the community and they’re crying out for this type of family activity. We feel it’s a unique point of difference for our venue and a way we can bring the community together.

“There’s also a Melbourne-style lane way here too, which is a very unique part of the pub. We’re thinking about hosting sports events, UFC fight nights, footy finals, all that type of stuff on a big screen. So a bit of a venue sports fanatics like Paul and I can enjoy as well.”

“I think another recipe for success is the affordability we plan to follow. We’re not going to expect people to pay $40 for a steak here. It’s going to be more like what people were used to before prices went crazy.”

Paul said the premises boasted a proud history in town and ‘Namba’ was a nod to Nambour’s indigenous heritage. 

“As well as the special events along Mill street, we are also planning regular night markets in our back car park. And, entertainment-wise, we want to give the local entertainers the chance to come up here and jump on stage and do what they do.”

Josh has run a number of bars and food and beverage ventures while Paul has been working in the industry for 37 years, from Sydney’s Rose Bay to Daydream Island. 

“This is my Johnny Farnham, never say never tour,” said Paul. “I promised the family, I wasn’t going into pubs, that’s why I was just consulting and selling pubs. But then the landlord rang me up.  And he said: ‘You’ve got to come and have a look at this pub’. And then, that was it!”

• The Club Hotel Namba is planning a soft opening in December with plans to ramp up their undertakings into the early part of 2023. Stay tuned to www.facebook.com/TheNamba or www.clubhotelnamba.com.au for details.