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THE Publican Group has bought inner-city bar Wolfe Lane, adding to its group of licensed venues that includes The George and The Aviary in the city, and The Burnleigh in Nedlands.
Wolfe Lane founders Julie and Jade Brereton sold the business six weeks ago to The Publican Group directors Steve Garcia and John Ahern. The venue has been refurbished, re-opened and renamed Wolf Lane (without the ‘e’ from the original name, Wolfe Lane).
Mr Garcia told WA Business News the acquisition was in line with the group’s expansion plans for Western Australia, although there was no target number of sites, and development would continue to be a moving target.
The Publican Group’s first venue was The George, followed by The Burnleigh on Hampden Road in Nedlands and The Aviary in the 140William development; all three previous sites have been either greenfield venues or converted spaces new to hospitality.
“We prefer it that way because we set up the spaces, we set the infrastructure up correctly for us to operate long term,” Mr Garcia said.
Wolf Lane is a step away from that model, with the group attracted to the business because of its laneway positioning and existing licence.
“Perth CBD doesn’t have a huge amount of laneways compared with Melbourne, but that culture is also a growing culture,” Mr Garcia said.
“The licensing situation in Perth takes time, so to look at some acquisitions of spaces that already have a licence speeds up our growth process.”
He said the group had plans to change the dynamic at Wolf Lane and dramatically grow the business, but was not prepared to disclose them at this time.
The group’s original Perth venue, The George, was refurbished recently and given a softer décor, something Mr Garcia said was important in order to keep up with the evolving Perth hospitality landscape.
“Perth is such a dynamic space at the moment, there are so many licensed venues that have opened up since we opened The George, we have to keep up with the market and keep the punters excited,” Mr Garcia told WA Business News.
The Publican Group has 11 venues in Melbourne and four in Perth and will look to expand further across both the Perth CBD and suburban areas.