The Pub With Two Names on Doveton Street is set to reopen with a fresh new look.
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Christine Molloy, who transformed Creswick's Farmers Arms Hotel, has bought the business and has kept herself busy during the lockdown with renovations.
"The question that everybody asks me is 'are you going to do parmas?' - absolutely, we're going to do parmas," she said.
"It's going to be a pub, and that's my main focus, but with some really good food."
The building was put on the market last year, including its top floor residence.
Ms Molloy said she and her partner, Richard McKeown, will be taking over the entire building.
It's a historic pub in central Ballarat, formerly the Peter Lalor, and before that, the Royal Highlander - hence its most recent name.
It reopened following massive renovations in 2018.
Ms Molloy said she had known former owners Donatello Pietrantuono and Irene Beghini for years - the suggestion to buy the business was a joke at first, but eventually they sat down and hashed it out.
FROM 2018: Iconic pub with two names opens doors again
"We basically had bumped into each other in the street - we both live in Creswick," she said.
"To be honest, I've always had a little bit of a soft spot for that building, I really love it.
"I've wanted to be in Ballarat with a second pub for five years, basically."
The plan had been to open a cafe in Ballarat, but after hitting planning roadblocks, Ms Molloy - a self-described workaholic - decided she needed another project to keep herself occupied.
Unfortunately, she took over running the Pub with Two Names on March 7, mere days before the coronavirus began making its presence felt.
"You've got to keep a positive head - it's hard, in these uncertain times, to say it's going to be amazing, and that's a difficult thing for a person to do, especially when you've settled on a pub and you have to close because of coronavirus," she said.
She said she tried to stay positive at the Farmers Arms as well, helping regulars who were coming in for a beer to escape the anxiety and fear.
"I just got over hearing about the fear - this is when we were still open - so we had a C-word free zone," she said.
"We made a joke out of it for our bar's locals, because that's all anyone was talking about."
That included installing a bucket for fines every time someone said that particular C-word.
The pub in Creswick closed with all the other hospitality venues across the state, but Ms Molloy and her team have kept busy - what better time than when the pub is shut?
"We've finished at the Farmers Arms, that's been freshly painted, it's got some new pieces in it, we've updated the kitchen, we've done a lot," she said.
"It's the same at the Pub with Two Names, we're still going there - updating the bathrooms and quite a lot of other things there.
"There's things like exposing the wooden floorboards, the bricks, changing the bathrooms and mixing up the bar a bit.
"It's really exciting, and there's a lot to do, it's a massive undertaking."
She said she hoped the new-look pub would be "beautiful and relaxing" for patrons.
The news follows massive developments in the hospitality sector along that block in Mair Street - in the past 12 months, new bars and takeaway shops have opened, while an Italian restaurant and craft beer hall are under way.
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The GovHub building, looming to the north, will eventually have space for 600 workers, and is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
While she declined to reveal the name of the pub yet, Ms Molloy said there is some good news for people looking forward to restrictions beginning to ease next week.
"We hope to open (in Ballarat) in about six weeks," she said.
"The Farmers Arms is opening on Monday, June 1 - come and see all of our amazing updates and enjoy what we do best, the in-house butchery.
"Come and support us, and feel like you're in a safe space, back connected to our community, because that's really important.
"It's been hard on everyone, and I just can't wait for it to all go away and return to normal life, and not have as much fear, worry, and angst in our community."
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