File image of the Royal Terrace Hotel, prior to renovations. (c) Google Images 2019.
Entertainment Venues Austalia’s Royal Hotel in Kent Town reopens as Royal Terrace Hotel after two year hiatus
Six-strong hospitality group Entertainment Venues Australia has just reopened the historic Royal Hotel in Adelaide’s Kent Town.
The group’s other venues include The Pier Hotel at Glenelg and Propaganda at Glenfell Street.
The Royal Terrace Hotel had been shuttered for two years while the landlord searched for the perfect tenants. Step in Entertainment Venues Australia who have renovated and reopened the 1870s heritage pub.
Glen Aikman, Marketing Director for Entertainment Venues Australia, detailed the hotel’s rebirth.
“The previous owner in November 2016 left the premise,” says Aikman. “We got involved with the landlord probably October 2018 and the refurbishment of the hotel in late November, early December [2018]. We’ve been working with the landlord and heritage to give it a new lease of life. Over that time, we painted all the externals, internals, gave it a complete freshen up and got it ready to reopen.”
“The hotel is in incredible condition, it really is. It’s a fantastic venue and we certainly decided to get involved with it because of its long history. It’s just been one of those venues that a lot of people have loved over the years and we’re quite excited to bring it back.”
In addition to restoring the interiors inside and out, Aikman reveals the venue’s new emphasis on sport via a huge new LED screen installation.
“It has a fantastic beer garden already but we put in a 3.8m LED screen in that outdoor beer garden area. We certainly want to have a nice big focus on sport here as well as great pub food. That’s been the major addition we’ve given the hotel. We’ve given it a facelift to bring it into a modern feel and era.”
Explaining the tweaked name change, Aikman says:
“We felt like we wanted to bring the name into a more modern time. We wanted to keep the traditional name that everyone knows, but give it a modern spin.”
Turning to the menu, Aikman confirmed traditional pub classics would feature.
“It’s certainly traditional pub-style [food]. Our head chef Leith Hames is very experienced and been in the industry a long time. He’s written a really great pub menu, with traditional schnitzels, burgers, fish and chips but with some nice modern twists on it. Really flavourful dishes at competitive prices, where we see that’s going to be our target market – family-friendly in this part of Kent Town.”
As of now, the hotel is fully operational, “including the function room upstairs, which we’ve already had a lot of enquiries about,” says Aikman.
Responding to questions about the group’s future direction of travel, Aikman confirmed:
“Our owning company is always looking at future opportunities and looking at what we can do to increase the hotel industry in South Australia, bring some iconic venues back to life. That’s what their passion is all about. There’s going to be some really exciting times ahead for Entertainment Venues Australia. Our hospitality arm is only six months old and we already have six fantastic venues in South Australia. Certainly we’d never say we wouldn’t look at any others.”
“We’re really excited about the Royal Terrace Hotel, a lot of people have a history with this place so it’s great to see it open and operational again,” says Aikman.