The Esplanade Alliance has long argued that the hotel’s best hope is its separation from the remainder of the site. In the right hands, the Espy could continue for many more years (probably decades), to be one of the most successful, and profitable, pubs in Melbourne.
The Esplanade Alliance began to explore strategies for separating the hotel from the rest of the site in mid 2000, so that it was no longer beholden to development proposals and so that its profits could be directed back into maintenance and operations. At the time it appeared that the only way of achieving separation was a community buy-out and so the Esplanade Alliance began working on a trust model to pave the way for a community purchase of the hotel.
In May, 2001 Becton announced its sale of the hotel’s leasehold, effectively delivering a separation very similar to that which the Esplanade Alliance advocated. Becton's intention to retain and develop the rest of the site. The Esplanade Alliance fully supports this process. It means (in theory) an opportunity for the Espy to be run as an unencumbered commercial venture and that development proposals for the rest of the site can be assessed on their planning and design merits.
As the call for tenders goes out to the market, the Esplanade Hotel Foundation was poised to play a critical role in guiding the future of the Esplanade Hotel, not only the ground floor pub, with its Front bar, Gershwin Room, Kitchen area and basement public bar, but also the unused two upper levels, that can and should be reopened to the public.
The survival of the Esplanade Hotel culture depends on:
Sadly we were unsuccessful in our bid, but that does not mean that it was a bad idea or we were naive. Win or lose we knew that the future of the hotel depended on our being a part of the process. We will be keeping a friendly eye on the management of the Hotel and hope our input will be valued by the owners.
This webpage is maintained by Cyndy Vogelsang on behalf of the Esplanade Alliance