OWNERS of a Loddon hotel vacant for five years are in talks to re-open the historic building.
Inglewood’s Royal Hotel has been renamed the King Charles III and upstairs rooms renovated for bed and breakfast accommodation.
New signage appeared on the 1863 William Vahland-designed Brooke Street building verandah last Friday.
Owner Stephen Prior said he was looking for a tenant to run the downstairs hotel or restaurant “and we’re talking to a party”.
Mr Prior said the accommodation and hotel businesses would be separate.
“The hotel was always licensed and I hope it will be in the future,” Mr Prior said.
The Royal closed during COVID and the building sat empty until last year when Inglewood Ambulance Auxiliary moved its op-shop to the former Masonic lodge room facing Verdon Street.
Repairs to the verandah were also completed after protracted disputes between Mr Prior and the Loddon Shire Council to make the 1937 addition safe. The footpath was closed by protective fencing for more than a year.
Mr Prior owns multiple properties across country Victoria, including the Royal Hotel in Rainbow that has also adopted the King Charles III name, and Boort’s closed Commercial Hotel.
“We have repainted the outside at Boort, there are renovations upstairs and also in the bar area. We’re looking for a tenant there as well,” he said.
- CHRIS EARL