Pub's Bid To Adapt
Newcastle Herald
Friday May 23, 2008
COOKS Hill's Hotel Delany plans to shift its focus from bar and gaming services to functions and dining in a bid to stave off financial losses from poker machine restrictions and smoking bans.
The Darby Street establishment has lodged a $3.7 million development application with Newcastle City Council to renovate and extend its premises.The plan includes more restaurant space, which the application says is "more in keeping with the Darby Street precinct", a new lounge bar incorporating part of an existing outdoor courtyard, and a new upstairs function area with a terrace.The building would extend onto vacant lots between the existing hotel and a neighbouring building occupied by Wide Horizons.An existing gaming lounge and hotel rooms would be relocated, the entertainment lounge and public bar refurbished, the outside of the building repaired and repainted, and some entry points closed off.The application said the development was a necessary response to recent State Government restrictions on gaming machines and smoking bans."Licensed premises can no longer rely upon increased gaming income to secure their future," the application said."The introduction of the aforementioned legislation has placed increased pressure on the viability of licensed premises through the state."It is therefore important for these businesses to consider greater diversification of facilities."
© 2008 Newcastle Herald