Hundreds turn out to save eastern Sydney pub
More than 350 residents turned out at Paddington’s Village Inn in Sydney on Saturday in an attempt to protect the heritage-listed pub from the march of local fashion label Alemais, which has proposed turning the pub into a boutique.
The rally comes after a proposal was put forward to convert the nearly two-centuries-old pub into a ground floor boutique, with co-working spaces on the upper floor, by Alemais owner and founder Lesleigh Jermanus and her retail entrepreneur husband Chris Buchanan.
Will Marshall (left) and David Hancock outside the Village Inn on Saturday.
The pair, who are joint directors and shareholders of a holding company Bowie Ferris Investments, paid $6.2 million for the corner pub in September last year, and claim the watering hole in its current format is financially unviable.
In plans valued at $770,000 and put on public notice by Woollahra Council last week, the pair proposed to convert the pub into a ground floor boutique to function as the brand’s Australian flagship store, with a shared working space on the upper floor.
But the proposal has triggered a community outcry from the area’s notoriously proud and protective residents, who have objected to what they see as a historic public venue being done away with for more retail.
David Hancock, chairman of FinClear, a financial markets technology provider, and a former group head of buy now, pay later company Afterpay, is a local Paddington resident and Village Inn regular, as are his sons.
‘The place would be dead’
“It’s been here since 1890. As a community member, it’s really important to make sure that we preserve the living history,” said Mr Hancock, who created posters and beer coasters for the rally.
“There are a lot of people here today who are all local community members. They’re just doing what they normally do, which is enjoying being here at the Village Inn, or any pub in Paddington,” he said.
Will Marshall, human resources manager at Amazon, who organised a petition to save the pub from redevelopment, said: “If we were here right now, and this was a high-end retail store, it would be silent. There would be no connections, no socialising, no community. The place would be dead.”
As revealed by The Australian Financial Review, the Village Inn is located inside a retail pocket known as The Intersection, which is owned predominantly by lawyer and fashion entrepreneur Theo Onisforou.
A devout and long-time supporter of rival fashion label Zimmermann – which last week signed a private equity deal that valued the company at $1.5 billion – Mr Onisforou has openly admitted he would not be open to giving Alemais space in his stable given his belief that the upstart brand Alemais’ designs too closely resemble Zimmermann’s.
Space increase
The outcry comes as Zimmermann is making moves to double the floor space at its own flagship store, which sits diagonally opposite the Village Inn on the corner of Oxford Street and Glenmore Road.
In the week after the private equity transaction pushed the joint net wealth of the founder sisters, Nicky and Simone Zimmermann, to more than $650 million, the owners are finalising plans to expand the store, regarded as one of its highest-grossing nationally.
Plans obtained by the Financial Review, completed by Zimmermann’s architect of choice, Studio McQualter, reveal a sweeping conversion could also add a second, upstairs floor to the sprawling boutique.
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