Council joins forces with a Sydney university to roll out heritage pub protection program
Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Inner West Council has just entered into a partnership with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) to work on its heritage pub protection program.
As part of its Conservation and Heritage course, UTS students from the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building will investigate the heritage significance of a number of the pubs across the Inner West, in conjunction with Council’s Strategic Planning Department.
This includes determining whether these pubs should be listed as heritage items.
“The Inner West has recently seen an alarming trend of conversion of heritage pubs into completely new usage,” Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne said.
“Our hotels and pubs are cultural institutions and have a value above and beyond the commercial – they have architectural, historical and social significance.
“We can’t let our famous pub culture go out the back door and risk losing the heart and soul of our community.
“Many hotels in the area have heritage protection, but it is clear that some have slipped through the cracks – possibly merely due an historical assumption that no-one would convert the premises into anything but a pub,” he said.
“Council officers have investigated the heritage status of every pub in the Inner West. And the good news is many historic pubs are already heritage listed.
“At present, the Vic on the Park has no protection against being redeveloped, as it is not heritage listed and is not in a heritage conservation zone. Other pubs that aren’t currently listed but, in my opinion, should be are the Annandale Hotel, the 3 Weeds, and the Unity Hall Hotel,” he said.
There are currently 66 pubs in the Inner West Local Government Area.
- 11 (17%) have no heritage protection
- 24 (36%) have protections by their location in a heritage conservation area
- 31 (47%) are individually heritage listed.
Approximately 20 pubs will be allocated to the UTS students’ workload, the findings of which will inform whether any of these pubs should be further investigated for heritage protections.
Students can opt to take part in these investigations as part of an elective heritage unit during their Master of Planning course.
The remainder of the hotels will be made part of the LEP heritage review for the new Inner West LEP. The student’s heritage project is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
For more information, email John Roper at john.roper@innerwest.nsw.gov.au