Sad moment as iconic 135-year-old pub closes

A 135-year-old pub has shut its doors after battling soaring expenses, with its owner claiming he would have had to charge $20 a beer in order to survive. 

The Carringbush Hotel, located in Melbourne‘s inner north-west suburb of Abbotsford, permanently closed its doors at 10pm on Sunday. 

The iconic Langridge Street pub made the shock announcement on its Facebook page on May 27, despite five-and-a-half ‘amazing years’ after its renovation in 2019. 

‘Like most, we are feeling the current financial pinch and instead of running the gauntlet we have decided to go out on a high,’ the post read.

‘We have the best group of staff, locals and regulars and to all of you, thanks for everything. We would love to see as many of you as possible this week for one hell of a huge party, then again on Sunday for a few Bloody Marys for our last day of trade.

‘From today we will not be taking any more bookings. Walk-ins only. Our menu will slowly wind down and the taps are running dry.’

Carringbush Hotel co-owner Liam Matthews said the pub closed due the ‘horrendous’ cost of ‘everything’ in the hospitality industry. 

‘We’re putting more in the till than ever, but what is left over is less than ever,’ Mr Matthews told the Australian Financial Review.

In order for the pub to survive, the 47-year-old calculated he would have had to raise the pub’s most popular beer Mountain Goat Lager from $15 a pint to $20. 

And that was something Mr Matthews was not prepared to do. 

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‘The customer is not ready for that so we take the hit. The brewers and deliverers are facing similar pressures and pass costs on to us, but we’re the end of the line,’ Mr Matthews said. 

Mr Matthews explained wages for the pub’s 20 staff had increased by 8 per cent since 2022. 

Staff wages made up 55 per cent of the pub’s overall turnover – which is 15 per cent higher than what is considered sustainable. 

The pub saw a jump in power bills from $1,500 in 2020 to about $2,000 a month and also noticed an increase in its insurance costs. 

Mr Matthews added the pub was also charged a beer delivery fee of $10 per keg – a cost that did not exist before the pandemic. 

The desperate owner even tried to sell the pub’s beer lines in a bid to raise cash but had no takers despite the $10,000 asking price being a fifth of what he believes the system was worth. 

Mr Matthews, who also runs the Old Bar in Fitzroy, believes a quarter of Melbourne’s hospitality venues could close in the next year due to rising costs. 

It comes as a number of independent breweries across the country went into administration in the past 12 months. 

The closures included Melbourne’s Deeds Brewery and Hawkers Brewery, Sydney’s Wayward brand and Akasha Brewery,  Brisbane-based Ballistic Beer Company and Adelaide business Big Shed Brewing. 

Financial services and software company CreditorWatch predicted in a report published on May 21 that one in 13 hospitality businesses would fail in the next 12 months.

The report claimed businesses were at the discretion of spending customers – a demographic that had ‘dried up as cost-of-living pressures mount’. 

It outlined the food and beverage industry ranked first for external administrations and tax office debts of over $100,000, and also came in third for invoice payments more than 60 days overdue.

In the past three months, several prominent venues in Melbourne and Sydney collapsed after succumbing to the cost crunch facing the industry. 

In May, hospitality group BCN Events Group’s seven businesses including its cooking school Lumiere Culinary Studio went bust, ceasing trade immediately and affecting its 90 staff. 

The Botswana Butchery chain went into liquidation and had more than $23 million in debt. 

The chain, which had high-end steak restaurants across three cities, also sacked its 200 staff.  

Other prominent Sydney venue closures include Raja, Izakaya Tempura Kuon,  Tetsuya’s, Tequila Daisy, Redbird Chinese, Khanaa, Cornersmith, Sushi Bay, Elements Bar and Grill and three stores from the Bondi Pizza franchise. 

In Melbourne, venue closures include Rosetta, La Luna, Gingerboy and Izakaya Den, Gauge Bistro, Que Club and Italian restaurant The Olive Jar, which closed after 40 years of business.