SETTING THE PUBLIC BAR

Prahran Hotel:

82 High St, Prahran VIC
(03) 9529 2168 or www.prahranhotel.com
Photos: Shannon McGrath

Pubs come easily to the four guys that make up Sand Hill Road. Well, the business of running them that is. They know what makes a local pub, and don’t stray too far away from the basics of a parma and a pint. Their recent activity (renovating four pubs around Melbourne in a calendar year) would suggest it might all be coming a little too easily. But when every decision has to satisfy the gut and mind of the cornerstones of Sand Hill Road it ensures the vetting process for new purchases is a stringent one.

One of their most recent purchases, The Prahran Hotel, has gone from a distressed asset to a revitalised local watering hole. Sand Hill Road and Justin Northrop of Techne Architects designed the new look to work with the building’s Streamline Moderne architecture; aerodynamics curves, nautical elements, and vintage steamer trunks the evidence of ancient holidaymakers sidetracked by booze. It’s about going somewhere, somewhere that’s not home, but feels enough like it to warrant many happy returns. One of the other four renovations has also just been completed. The Richmond Club Hotel now spreads over four levels, with a large rooftop bar.