Hotel Westwood – a pub and live music venue in Naarm/Melbourne, formerly known as the Reverence Hotel (before that also closed in 2019) – is up for sale.
In a statement shared on social media, co-owner James Young said his and his team’s decision to sell the venue was not due to financial issues or an inability to continue running it, but rather its nature as a pub with a working kitchen. “After four years in fabulous Footscray we have learned a valuable lesson,” Young wrote. “Stay in your lane.
“We understand live music and late-night dive bars, but we’re not food experts. We built the best-sounding live music venue in Australia, but… due to the pandemic, we ran out of money and never finished our kitchen, so we ran a lovely pub as a great live music venue how frustrating for our punters could never get a spag bog parma fish [and] chips or arancini ball…
“So Hotel Westwood represents a brilliant opportunity for someone who knows food and loves live music to establish a successful hospitality business in the bustling New West.”
According to Young’s statement, Hotel Westwood operates on a 22-year lease at 28 Napier Street in Footscray, with an asking price of “under $300,000” (at the time of writing it listed for $275,000). Young emphasized that this sale would not affect his team’s other venue, Cherry Bar, noting: “We have plenty left in the tank and are very excited about the future of Cherry Bar and the music scene in Melbourne.”
Since the bandroom at Hotel Westwood first opened in February 2021, notable acts have included Children Collide, The Delta Riggs, Mia Dyson, Didirri and Mudhoney.