Newtown Hotel talks stall

The deadline for negotiations over the Newtown Hotel has come and gone with still no definitive word on the hotel’s future.

A new date of 7 July has now been set as the deadline for the ongoing discussions between the Newtown Hotel’s licensee, David McHugh and the building’s owners.

It was announced last month that talks had begun between the Newtown Hotel building owners, Newtown Colonial Hotel Pty Ltd, and the licensee David McHugh of McHugh Holdings, after the sudden closure of the pub on 2 November last year after a break down in lease negotiations.

The two parties had dropped the option of heading to the courts and felt confident that matters could be resolved through mediation.

Although the anticipated date for resolution, 30 May, has passed, David McHugh said talks between the two parties are continuing and is still hopefull that the Newtown will be able to re-open by the end of the year.

All I have to say is that things never go as quickly as planned, McHugh told SSO.

The re-opening of the Newtown would herald the restoration of the inner west as a significant gay and lesbian entertainment ghetto.

The hugely successful opening of The Clarence Hotel at Petersham last week -” incorporating the former Manacle bar from under the Taylor Square Hotel -” and the planned re-opening of Erskineville’s iconic Imperial Hotel later this year will provide the community with more venues than it has had for several years.

The last time the inner west had three gay and lesbian venues was when the very successful Caesar’s at Petersham was still open.