6 minute read
DESIGN & BUILD
THRILLING THREE-IN-ONE
AUSTRALIAN VENUE CO HAS RELAUNCHED STATE OF GRACE IN MELBOURNE’S CBD. CRAIG HAWTIN-BUTCHER REVEALS HOW THIS THREE-VENUES-IN-ONE SPACE IS BOUND TOGETHER OPERATIONALLY AND AESTHETICALLY.
Theme venues are the future, they really are.” That’s the verdict of Australian Venue Co’s Jeremy Ferguson. Ferguson is the operator’s Divisional Area Manager and responsible for State of Grace, AVC’s relaunched venue in Melbourne’s CBD.
The venue opened in November last year, but Ferguson admits the new venue is a little outside AVC’s comfort zone.
Main bar area on the ground floor of State of Grace
“It’s very much a standalone venue for us,” says Ferguson. “We do have a couple of venues where these sorts of themes are touched, but we’re into traditional hotels. It is a little bit outside what we’re used to.”
“Definitely having a theme attached is a great idea,” says Ferguson. “It does give the venue a lot of hype. So having the State of Grace, which has such a theme attached to it, is a very, very strong selling point. We’re seeing that flow on to the type of clientele we attract, the amount of money that gets spent and also the function crowd it attracts.”
CHANGE OF PACE
Not only that, the venue is a very different departure from Australian Venue Co’s more traditionally-minded pub spaces, in many ways.
Original 1950s music sheets complement recycled timbers and modern flourishes
“The State of Grace is different from our other venues in that it has a restaurant license attached to it,” says Ferguson. “Therefore we have to offer 75% seats to our patrons. So a big part of what we offer is around food and we offer full table service throughout. Our other venues are standard pubs – walk in, grab yourself a table, order at the bar, sit down and enjoy a meal.” The unusual venue is a result of AVC’s acquisition of the Publican Group. “State of Grace was originally on Collins St and closed down approximately two years ago,” says Ferguson. “The owner of that was the Publican Group. We bought the Publican Group out but in the process of purchasing that group, they were already planning to relaunch the State of Grace in King Street. A part of the deal we did with them was for them to design, build and get State of Grace up and running and we’d take ownership as soon as it was completed. It’s pretty much a turnkey solution.”
And that’s how things have turned out. Concept planning began in late 2017, with onsite construction kicking off in early February 2018. The venue then opened in stages.
“We opened the ground floor and the basement in very late October 2018 and then the rooftop opened in very late December,” says Ferguson.
THE BRIEF, IN BRIEF
AVC’s consultant architect John Ahern describes the overarching brief for the project.
“The main brief was to bring back the old State of Grace that was operating and bringing it back to life,” says Ahern. “A lot of the artwork, interior design, feel, was a replication of the previous State of Grace. The important part was it was very eclectic.”
With such diverse artwork, there is always a danger of creating a fragmented venue.
“All three levels are very different,” says Ferguson. The venue houses Fall From Grace, a speakeasy cocktail lounge at basement level with its own entrance (and, frequently, lengthy queues). There is full table service in that area, “heavily focused on cocktails, more tapas style food,” explains Ferguson. Ground level is home to the modern European cuisine restaurant with full table service throughout, with a 40-seater mezzanine and function space. Upstairs is a traditional rooftop bar housing a pizza oven, for speedy service. What binds the three spaces together, says Ahern, is the central lift that runs, unusually, from basement to rooftop.
“The fortunate thing is there’s a lift that comes from the basement all the way to the rooftop,” says Ahern. “The theming is consistent through all the spaces. But it gives a different type of offering at every level. You’ve got your ground floor bar, mezzanine restaurant and function space, basement cocktail bar and the rooftop bar for city views.”
Rooftop bar
Equally consistent is the drinks offering. There are taps on all three levels, with six SKUs available on each floor. Cocktails are available throughout the venue, though on the rooftop cocktails are served in individual vessels, which are pre-batched. Elsewhere cocktails are served in traditional cocktail glassware and made to order in front of patrons. This is an operational response to the speedy service demanded by patrons on that rooftop level.
VIEW FROM THE TOP
“The rooftop bar is an interesting new concept to State of Grace,” says Ferguson. “The original never had [one]. We’ve got half a dozen rooftop bars around the city. We know [they’re] very successful and it’s where people want to be in Summer to enjoy that happy hour. Putting a rooftop on there was really a no-brainer.”
Ferguson is delighted at the rooftop’s success, despite the unfortunate timing.
“We’re very happy with the results,” says Ferguson. “It’s been very busy up there. Opening so late in the year we did very much miss the end of financial year, Christmas time parties and functions. But in saying that, the customer response has been fantastic. Word of mouth went very, very well and we’re getting a lot of people through the door now.”
“On the rooftop bar, the number one seller is tap beer,” says Ferguson. “There’s no better place to sit and have a look at the Yarra from up there and enjoy a schooner.”
“The amount of people we get up there and turnover, it’s very much about speed,” says Ferguson. “The other levels are more about the experience of the traditional State of Grace.”
The rooftop, Ferguson says, always hits capacity a couple of times a week, with long queues forming on Friday afternoons.
Basement cocktail bar, Fall of Grace
TALKING POINTS
Aesthetically, the eclectic venue is punctuated by one-offs and talking points.
“It was a lot of fun and that’s the enjoyable part – seeing it come to life with all the moving parts,” says Ahern. “It gives great life to the venue and is a great talking point for patrons – through the wallpaper that is old music sheets and newspapers from the 1950s and 1960s. It gives everyone an ability to remember or talk about items of history.”
The venue features lots of recycled timber for flooring, the staircase and balustrading. The interior design is based on eclectic and old artifacts, desks and tables.
“The materials are very much from a recycled point of view,” says Ahern, “except for the main construction materials for Australian standards of buildings, like the main bar, stainless steel in the kitchen – there’s a fundamentally important part of the fitout that has to be brand new. The interior design is blended with the old and the new.”
Soft furnishings came from a myriad of suppliers, marrying with the design but so they weren’t mainstream. There’s a mix of the old and the new in seating and furniture. “It’s quirky, it’s fun, but it’s not over the top,” says Ahern.
“There are a lot of items we sourced through alternative methods,” says Ahern. “Some of these items and antiques that were in the venue, they aren’t seen in mainstream shops or antique shops. A lot have been outsourced through auctions, private homes and are really quite unique. That gives a feel to the whole space of the whole eclecticness and alternative views that come across in the venue.”
Launch night canapes
“I think the entry to the basement [is my favourite part],” says Ahern. “Which is the bookcase and the mystique of how you can enter that basement area is quite different. It creates a real point of difference for the entrance of the venue. We’ve got a very large giraffe in there, our taxidermist animals that give a warmth and point of difference to the venue. All of it comes together.”
After two years of planning, construction and, more recently, operation, the venue is in a strong position to move forward.
“It’s 100% up and running, now it’s just about reaping the rewards,” says Ferguson. “We’re getting really good results and looking forward to the future, it’s fantastic.”
