Kickon Group makes first foray into Melbourne’s west

Kickon Group has acquired the Doutta Galla Hotel in Flemington, with plans to shut the pub down immediately for renovation.

The Doutta Galla Hotel, located on the juncture of Flemington, Kensington and Ascot Vale in Melbourne’s inner North West, has been owned and operated by Michael Hickey for the past 17 years. He has now sold the corner pub to Kickon Group who had been looking for another venu in Melbourne. The group owns the Terminus North Fitzroy, as well as Pincho Disco in Collingwood.

“We’ve been looking for another Melbourne site for a while to add to the Kickon portfolio and particularly off the success of the Terminus in recent years of those city fringe, urban precincts,” explained Kickon Group founder Craig Shearer.

“We turned our attention west of the city for the first time ever. And I’ve known the venue for quite a while, and I’ve known the current operator, Michael for many years, and it just ticks all of the boxes for an asset that we would be really proud to own and operate.

“It’s such an interesting location with so many varied demographics around it in the various suburbs that are borders. And what we’re really looking to bring is a great local corner pub with a community feel, great pub food and entertainment – all the things that we do well in our other venues.

Kickon Group is expected to settle on the pub in early October, with plans to shut the venue immediately for a renovation with the hopes to reopen in February or March of 2025.

“We’re already in planning with our architect and builder to complete a makeover. It’ll be a little bit of a quicker turnaround than others, in that not a lot of the work is structural, apart from on the first and second floors, and it’s all internal,” stated Shearer.

The current concept for the first and second floors is that the two floors will be combined and exposed to create one large functions and events space with a mezzanine.

The hotel will also be renamed, with the local community to be canvassed on a name change, and whether the Doutta Galla holds enough historical and cultural significance to be retained in some way within the venue.

New pub partner

As part of the hotel acquisition, Kickon Group has brought on a new part-owner for the venue, Ben Lougoon, as part of their Pub Partner Program. Lougoon has been with Kickon Group for less than 12 months, but was identified as a talent operator that would fit in well with the program.

“Ben had worked with some of our team at AVC, and was known to our crew, and an opportunity came up for him to join our team to help us launch some of these new projects that we’ve been busy working on over the past year, and he’s just done a really great job,” said Shearer.

“He’s settled into our culture perfectly, and there’s a really high level of trust between him and the other members of our team, and in particular the executive team, there’s a really great relationship formed, and we felt he was a great candidate to become our next Pub Partner.”

Lougoon said the opportunity was “massive”, and one that he hadn’t thought possible previously.

“If you ask most hospitality lifers if they’ve ever wanted to own their own venue, they’re going to tell you it’s a dream but it probably won’t happen. With this program, Kickon made that dream become a reality. I was shell shocked when I got the offer. I’m honored to follow the footsteps of the other Pub Partners like Bart Furst and Tim Lucas up in Queensland.”

Lougoon has begun working on the Doutta Galla project and looks forward to what it will be within its local community.

“I’m just excited to return the Doutta Galla to its former glory. It’s a beautiful Melbourne corner pub. The aim is to become a big part of the community by connecting people through amazing hospitality.”