Balmain is only now getting past the recent loss of the Exchange Hotel a few months ago, and now the Town Hall Hotel has been sold, with plans to turn the legendary pub into a medical centre.
This will go nicely with the Exchange, which now functions as a call centre. Progress, hey? Lock out laws, hey?
The Town Hall Hotel has served locals for over 130 years, so the loss isn’t just a case of one less waterhole, it represents the dangerous dismantling of Sydney’s history.
Darcy Byrne, Mayor of the former Leichhardt Council, has confirmed the news on his Facebook page with the below articulate rant about the state of play:
“It has now been confirmed to me by several different sources that the Town Hall Hotel in Balmain has been sold and the new purchaser intends to convert it from a pub to a medical centre.
“Following on from the Exchange Hotel converting in to a call centre this is a dangerous trend which, if left unchecked, could see the peninsular lose its heart and soul. We can’t let our famous pub culture go out the back door.
“I can announce I will be convening a summit of publicans from Balmain and Rozelle to find out precisely what challenges our pubs are facing and to craft and implement a hotels strategy for our area.
“Our local hotels are cultural institutions, many of them having been around for more than a century. We can’t stand by and watch them being lost one by one and converted into office space or units.
“I will be doing everything in my power to keep the Towny as a pub but we must also look at the systemic problems facing all our hotels and find solutions that will keep Balmain and Rozelle as the greatest puburbs in Australia.”
