Woodside Beach Hotel has been named a Best Redeveloped Food and Beverage Hotel and Heart of the Community finalist in the Australian Hotels Association (Vic) 2023 State Awards for Excellence.

“The AHA (Vic) State Awards for Excellence is a celebration of the accomplishments of Victoria’s pubs and hotels, where we come together to recognise outstanding hospitality service and delivery,” Paddy O’Sullivan, CEO of the Australian Hotels Association (Vic), said.

“We also express gratitude to the dedicated pub and hotel staff for their invaluable contributions to ensure the success of our industry.”

On Monday, May 15, more than 1200 guests gathered at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium to celebrate this year’s State Awards for Excellence, which honoured a varied range of venues and prominent personalities in Victoria’s hospitality sector.

The Woodside Beach Hotel was honoured for its achievements in two of the 40 State Awards for Excellence categories: Best Redeveloped Food and Beverage Hotel and Heart of the Community.

In November 2021, an 11-person syndicate, director Clint Hillas, Redd Catt Sale cafe owner Matt Raidal, star player of the Brisbane Lions Josh Dunkley and a clandestine Financial Review Rich-Lister, signed the ownership contract to the Woodside Beach Hotel.

Behind its beautiful facade, the Woodside Beach Hotel was a lifeless cavity that needed attention.

Replacing the old leaky roof, installing new flooring, bathrooms and commercial kitchen, a fresh coat of paint, and erecting a 16-metre L-shaped bar, the former derelict Woodside Pub is now unrecognisable from its former state.

Today the smell of Gippsland steak, red wine jus, five-spice crispy calamari and golden brown chicken schnitzels topped with melted mozzarella, Neapolitan sauce and shaved champagne ham, waft from the new state-of-the-art commercial kitchen, the establishment serving more than 30,000 diners since its reopening nine months ago.

For Woodside Beach Hotel manager Braden Anderson, being named Best Redeveloped Food and Beverage Hotel and Heart of the Community finalist in the Australian Hotels Association (Vic) 2023 State Awards for Excellence is a true honour.

“It’s humbling,” Mr Anderson said.

“The competition we were up against in both categories was pretty remarkable, normally the Hub of the Community Award will be for a Sporting Legends or Sale Greyhounds style committee, essentially a not-for-profit that donated tens of thousands of dollars to the community, so to be in that as a little pub in the middle of nowhere is pretty extraordinary.

“We were by far the David’s vs Goliath’s in the Best Redeveloped Food and Beverage Hotel category, so that was amazing to be finalists in that.”

Mr Anderson has been blown away by the public response to the Woodside Beach Hotel and believes the resurgence of the historic establishment has been received as a symbol of hope by those in the Woodside and surrounding communities.

“We’ve comfortably had over 30,000 people who have dined with us at least, drinkers and visitors on top of that in the nine [months] we’ve been reopened and our following and interaction on socials is pretty insane to go along with that,” he said.

“Other than the interest from a couple of notable people in the ownership group, I think it has just been the optimism of daring to reopen a dilapidated pub in the middle of nowhere in country Vic, particularly a region that has been devastated by drought and fires and everything, the logging industry shutting down, I think people have just enjoyed that optimism of daring to believe in hospitality.”

Good food, cold beer, tasty local wine and soon the Woodside Beach Hotel will add accommodation to its list of offerings.

“We’ve got accommodation opening very soon, which will add a bow to the strings, so to speak,” Mr Anderson said.

“Plus, we are continuing to be a bit of a hub for small-scale events and live music as we have since opening.”

Find out more about the Woodside Beach Hotel at https://woodsidebeachhotel.com/thepub