AN HISTORIC pub in the city's fast-developing west is set to open its new main bar as part of ongoing redevelopment works to breathe new life into the old space.
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Coincidentally, the bar opening comes three years to the day of the 2026 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony - and right on the doorstep is the old saleyards site for what will become the Ballarat athletes' village.
Old bedroom walls have been pulled down at the Market Hotel to create a large open space that flows into the pub's established beer garden. Inside features an adaptation of the Travis Price mural in the garden, a tilt to the pub's old saleyards history.
Most of what pub-goers will find are the existing, strong bones of the hotel including red double-bricked walls and floorboards that until now had been largely hidden behind thick cladding and covers.
Former Committee for Ballarat chief executive Melanie Robertson, who co-owns the Market Hotel, said the focus in renovations had been on restoration while creating a unique space for the growing community to enjoy.
Ms Robertson said they had purchased the site, with plans well in place, before the Commonwealth Games announcement but knowing one day the big saleyards space would be converted to something at some stage - it was too central and valuable a site to leave empty.
Only, Ms Robertson said they did not expect to have such a project on the saleyards site so soon.
To become a publican had never originally been in Ms Robertson's plans, the run-down Market Hotel's initial prospects had been an investment property.
The more time Ms Robertson spent on site, the more she felt compelled to reinvigorate the place.
"We were all together, and we've got a good group of people, and were talking about what we could do but we all liked this pub," Ms Robertson said. "It had its own life and we had to learn its story."
Part of this has been getting to know the pub's locals, who Ms Robertson said had become like an extended family. They still have their pool and dart competition and footy tipping based around what will become a sports bar.
She has even learnt to pour a beer or two behind the bar when needed.
In hunting down a little leadlight lamb window, Ms Robertson said the seller in Sebastopol said her dad used to drink at the Market Hotel. That little lamb now features prominently near the main bar.
The first Market Hotel was a weatherboard structure built on site in 1896 that later was destroyed in a fire. In the early 1900s the pub was rebuilt in brick and had largely remained untouched for years.
Restoration works have focused on using salvaged materials, refashioned into the new space, including hand-stencilled lino found in the old bedrooms creating a decorative feature on the new bar. The bar itself has been built from an old church altar from Victoria Street.
Some people have asked Ms Robertson where the main bar had been hiding the whole time - not realising the bar was created in sympathy to the pub's new style with reclaimed materials.
Ms Robertson said everything had been sourced as locally as possible with some of the neighbours jumping in to help, like Spot on Pots and Nursery offering support for greenery and Haymes Paint working to stay true to bold colours.
Market Hotel has been gradually inviting local musicians into the beer garden space to create a fun and lively environment.
The pub's kitchen was still under construction, with a dining menu likely to be available before mid-year.
While there was still plenty of work to do, Ms Robertson said she could finally start to realise the transformation.
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