Lots more stories, tall and true, will continue to be told in the main bar of the St James Hotel — if a buyer can be found for the business.
Owners and licensees, Wayne and Jo Bate, are looking for a break after 10 years of ownership and a few years of active management.
The renovated hotel was offered at auction, but failed to attract a bid, on Friday, April 5. Discussions are ongoing with a potential buyer.
The 80-year-old pub, influenced by art deco design, has been a popular watering hole for the locals, many of whom turned out for the auction.
Among them was Jim Kelly, who’s aunty built the hotel, more properly known as Hotel St James, not to be confused with the famous New York establishment.
Jim, 86, said a good hotel is a social gathering place for a rural community.
“I remember when there were a lot of farms around here. By lunch time it would be half full and full by 6pm closing.
“That’s the days when we had a butcher, baker and grocer in the town. Everything is now closed.”
History looms large in the rural town (population 130), located halfway between Yarrawonga and Benalla.
Towering over the main street is a larger-than-life rendition of the town’s most famous resident, Sir George James Coles, who bought his father’s store in the town a few years before establishing the first Coles Variety Store in Collingwood.
The picture adorns a silo, now part of a regular silo art trail; a project which has brought renewed tourist activity in the street.
There were so many travellers stopping on the silo trail, that Wayne opened a coffee servery at the hotel, which is directly across the road from the big grain silos.
The pub is open from Wednesdays to Sundays from 3pm, serving meals from 6pm to 8pm, Thursdays to Sundays.