By Benjamin Millar
Popular Footscray music venue The Reverence Hotel will be permanently shutting its doors, calling last drinks early next year.
Current operators Matt and Melanie Bodiam, who have run the venue for six-and-a-half years, are pulling the curtains after failing to secure a new lease back in May.
In a statement released on Tuesday, they announced that despite “incredible” community support, the venue will cease trading after Saturday, March 2.
“We haven’t managed to secure another lease on the pub and have been operating on a month-to-month basis,” it stated.
“Without a lease or any certainty for a home, we are unable to plan long term and have had to stop investing back into the venue.”
Star Weekly last year reported that the hotel’s owners had the site on the market and were pitching the sale at developers.
An online listing describes the property, built in 1876 and formerly known as the Exchange, as a “fantastic freehold development” with “potential to build to up to six levels”.
The pub had an asking price of $3.5 million, putting it out of the reach of most hotel operators.
Earlier this year the hotel was involved in a David vs Goliath battle over its popular Taco Tuesday offering, threatened with legal action by Mexican food chain Salsas Fresh Mex over an alleged trademark infringement.
Mr Bodiam, who grew up in Footscray, had said he would be devastated to lose the Reverence or to see the building torn down for redevelopment.
Tuesday’s statement thanked the Footscray community, hotel staff and “all the bands and musicians that have graced our stages over the years”.
The Footscray Historical Society has committed to help preserve the building, which is listed on the Heritage Council database due to its archaeological significance.
