General News
19 January, 2025
Iconic Creekside Hotel now an ex-pub with no beer
Warracknabeal's historic Creekside Hotel has closed its doors for the first time in 150 years, having 'shut up shop' on New Year's Day after recent owners struggled to keep the business afloat.
Proprietors Brian Basham and his wife announced the closure onsocial media late last year, saying New Year's Eve would be their final day of trading.
"While this is not how we saw the future going, we have enjoyed this short time owning The Creekside and we are thankful to those who supported us along the way," the post read.
"When we went into this business it was in a 50/50 partnership with other people as they had experience in the hotel industry; we were only supposed to be in the background as business support."
While in the partnership, they said "things declined" and they were behind in sales and had accumulated a large sum of unpaid debt, which they said they "were unaware of" until the partnership ended.
The couple took over the business in October 2023 from Kevin and Sally Gebert, who previously owned, renovated and developed the hotel for seven years, before purchasing a hotel in Bendigo.
Mr and Mrs Gebert put the Creekside Hotel on the market in 2018 and continued to operate the two businesses until a buyer was found.
"The economy slowed, people stopped spending, things went up and we could not catch up," the statement said.
"Now we are going the way of many restaurants and hotels."
Underneath the recent post, many patrons took the chance to share their experiences at the hotel, wishing all who worked there the very best.
"We always enjoyed our meals there. Such a lovely place. All the best for whatever you do now," one said.
"My husband and I loved coming over for a meal and not once were we disappointed. Stand tall: you gave it your best shot," another said.
The former Commercial Hotel building was constructed in 1875 after a fire tore through the original hotel.
The second storey was added in 1891.
When previous owners underwent the many renovations and refurbishments inside, they closed the hotel down for a while before reopening again under The Creekside Hotel.