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    The Commercial Hotel Rupanyup publican Debbie Ormrod plans to reopen tomorrow to 20 patrons at a time. The Ormrods kept the doors closed through COVID-19 but continued with renovations. Plans are to reopen with a fresh interior. Picture: DYLAN DE JONG

Wimmera publicans vow: We’ll get through this

BY DYLAN DE JONG 

Publicans in rural Wimmera towns who celebrated their grand openings just weeks before the COVID-19 shutdown are carefully assessing the viability of a staggered reopening as restrictions ease this week. 

The Commercial Hotel Rupanyup, Jeparit’s Larrikins and Taylor’s Palace Hotel Warracknabeal all started trading for the first time earlier this year.  

Rupanyup publicans Chris and Debbie Ormrod opened their pub in-line with the town’s historical 150th celebrations in early March. 



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Mr Ormrod said in the short time the pub was open business was quickly gaining traction. 

“We were pretty worried as a small business just starting out – we were really getting into a system and a rhythm,” he said. 

“But we thought when life gives you lemons, you’ve got to make lemonade – you can’t have it your way all the time.”  

Mr Ormrod said he was prepared to reopen this week, in line with State Government direction, but remained highly vigilant of strict physical-distancing measures.

Venues can now have up to 20 people in an enclosed space, and must provide four-square-metres for each person.

Patrons must also provide their name and contact details for contact-tracing purposes.

“It’s exciting, but we’re cautious at the same time,” Mr Ormrod said. 

“If we have a second wave come through, that would be devastating – we have to be protective of people in our community, there’s a lot of vulnerable people.

“We can’t put the cart before the horse yet. We don’t want to be putting finance before safety.” 

While in lockdown, Mr Ormrod and his family took the opportunity to renovate the bar, restaurant, function room and prepare additional accommodation for expected regional tourism. 

He said he also provided his town with live entertainment, live-streaming his guitar playing on Friday and Saturday nights from within the venue. 

“The place didn’t need to be open for us to be productive,” he said.

“We had live music streaming from the venue to give people in the area a sense their pub was still churning out live entertainment.

“We were really concerned that we would lose momentum, but the community has been really great and supportive.”

Early Sunday morning on March 22, Larrikins publican Ricky Larkin was wiping down his bar top after his grand opening night when he received the news he had to stay closed. 

Despite only being open for one day of trading, Mr Larkin has been staying positive. 

“I’m taking every day as it comes,” he said. 

He said he would continue to assess the pandemic and wait until it was more viable to open. 

“I’d rather wait until it’s beneficial to everyone. If I’m going to do it again, I’m going to do it right,” he said. “I might have another crack at a big opening night when all the lights are green and start from there. 

“I would have liked to have had a few more things done before I opened the first time, so I might concentrate on that in the meantime and next time I have a grand opening, it’s going to be an even grander one.” 

Before opening earlier this year, Taylor’s Palace Hotel Warracknabeal was closed for more than eight years. 

Publican Des Taylor, with the help from his family, dedicated more than six months of restoring the pub to its former glory. 

He said despite the impact to his business from having to close for two months, he would persevere through the pandemic.  

“I was disappointed, but I knew it had to be done. In the five weeks we were open, we had good clientele,” he said.

“On opening night, we were packed out, we had about 400 people. It’s especially good for the young ones, they love having another hotel to go to.” 

Mr Taylor said he would continue with renovations and reopen when it was viable for his business. 

“We’ll get through this. We’ve just got to pick the right time to reopen,” he said. 

“Come in and have meals when we get going again, support local business.”

The State Government will look to increase the number of people allowed in a space to 50 patrons from June 22, and 100 people from mid-July if the containment of COVID-19 remains satisfactory. 

 

 

The entire June 3, 2020 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!