A “hotel closed until further notice” sign appears on the Bayview Hotel’s main entrance. Photo: Kim Treasure.
The future of Batemans Bay’s main pub, the Bayview Hotel, remains uncertain after the longtime owners decided not to renew their lease.
The Orient Street venue has been closed for the past three weeks. Patrons have not been informed why this is the case or when it might reopen.
The previous lessee, publican Ainsley Ratcliff, had run the establishment for the past 10 years. She says she’s unable to comment on the circumstances of her departure and has been given no details on the future of the Bayview, but she’s proud of what she achieved over the past decade.
“We got live music back to the venue [in 2015]. We put a lot of renovations through it. We renovated the bottle shop. You hope your work doesn’t go unnoticed. It wasn’t our decision to leave,” she said.
“We got through Covid. Hospitality has really been destroyed Australia-wide, but we got through it and have kept our employees. We did all that while home-schooling three children.”
The Bayview Hotel premises is co-owned by prominent Canberra businessman Michael Kouper, who also owns the Kingston Hotel (aka, ‘the Kingo’) in Canberra.
Region contacted Mr Kouper to ask about the future of the Bayview but did not receive a response.
The Dawn family, who run the Kingo business, said the Kingston Hotel publicans do not plan to take over the Bayview Hotel.
The Bayview Hotel is one of the most popular venues in town. Photo: Kim Treasure.
The family-friendly Bayview Hotel serves pub-style meals and features a drinks bar, separate sports bar, outdoor beer garden, VIP lounge, fenced kid’s play area, billiard table and large screen. Until recently, it ran a trivia night on Thursdays and a pool competition on Sundays.
Batemans Bay Business Chamber spokesman David Maclachlan says it’s a bad time of the year for the town to have one of its most popular entertainment venues out of action.
“It’s the oldest pub in the area – it’s been there forever,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate that it’s been closed for a few weeks, but change is inevitable. It would be nice to see upgrades. We don’t want to see a reduction in services over summer … I hope it reopens before Christmas.”
He said the area is fortunate to have many alternative options for tourists.
“We’ve got a bunch of great clubs down here that are well patronised. There are a lot of other places to grab a drink,” Mr Maclachlan said.
“We’ve seen the Steam Packet Hotel in Nelligen get some new owners recently, and they’ve revitalised it. It’s going really well.”
However, Mr Maclachlan said that if Bayview remains closed, it will negatively impact services in a town struggling with labour shortages.
“The other venues will get inundated like crazy if the Bayview is closed. It’s hard to find staff during summer. We struggle to get qualified people at the best of times, so services will really be stretched.”
If you know more about this story, contact ojacques@region.com.au.
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