The owners of Cherry Bar and the Hotel Westwood have taken to social media to advertise the latter as up for sale, citing that they have “learnt a valuable lesson. Stay in your lane.”
In a shake-up of Melbourne’s live music scene, the Hotel Westwood has been listed for sale by its owners, who also own Melbourne’s beloved Cherry Bar on Little Collins Street.
The owners of Cherry Bar took over the former Reverence Hotel in Footscray after it closed its doors in March 2019 following uncertainty around its lease. The Rev had been operating on a month-by-month lease, making it difficult to plan for the long-term, and the owners ended up calling it quits.
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Cherry Bar’s owners had high hopes for turning the Rev into a seven-night-per-week live music venue and largely succeeded, as the Hotel Westwood became one of our favourite music venues in the west. However, the owners have revealed that their lack of knowledge in the food side of hospitality hampered their intentions.
“My partners and I own and book the Cherry Bar business,” Cherry Bar’s Facebook post stated. “We also own and book the Hotel Westwood business at 28 Napier Street, Footscray. We’ve got plenty left in the tank and are very excited about the future of Cherry Bar and the Melbourne music scene. But we have decided to sell our Hotel Westwood business and we thought you may like to buy it.
“After four years in fabulous Footscray we have learnt a valuable lesson. Stay in your Lane. We understand live music and late night dive bars, but we are not food experts. We did build the best-sounding live music Room in Australia, but… due to the pandemic we ran out of money and never finished our kitchen, so we were running a glorious pub as a fantastic live music venue where frustratingly for our punters you could never get a spag bog, parma, fish and chips or arancini ball…
“So Hotel Westwood represents a brilliant opportunity for someone who knows about food and loves live music to establish a successful hospitality business in the bustling New West. For the right team this is the opportunity of a lifetime to take over a 22-year Lease and an established business in Melbourne’s new heart for under $300 000. Wow.”
“We can’t be what they were”: The Hotel Westwood isn’t interested in imitating The Rev
To view the real estate listing, head here.