Construction of Conargo Hotel finally approved

The historic hotel was destroyed by fire in November 2014 and the rebuild is being pursued by two sets of brothers — Charlie and Bobby White who purchased the hotel’s land and liquor licence in 2015, and Michael and Paul Lodge whose father Neville Lodge owned the hotel from 1956 to 1980.

Michael Lodge said there are still some matters to be finalised before full-scale construction can begin, but receiving the construction certificate was one of the last hurdles standing in the way of the project.

‘‘We are still working through the quotes so we can appoint a contractor,’’ he said.

‘‘We expect to start with under slab drainage and sewerage, followed by the concrete slab. We also need to underpin the front facade, which will require us to bore poles underneath it.

‘‘The facade is heritage listed and it is a requirement to keep it.

‘‘The timing does revolve around the budget, but we’re expecting construction could be completed by early to mid next year.’’

Michael said the construction timeline also depends on access to materials.

He said there’s a current shortage of timber trusses in NSW, in part because of strained relationships with China.

‘‘We’ve had development approval for a while now but having the construction certificate takes a bit of the pressure off,’’ Michael said.

‘‘We can now just concentrate on planning and getting things moving.’’

Edward River Council general manager Phil Stone said it was exciting to see progress on the building after such a long time.

‘‘Council is committed to cutting red tape and processing applications for development and construction as soon as possible,’’ he said.

‘‘Once the completed application was received for the Conargo Hotel, we approved the construction certificate in under a week.

‘‘The Conargo Pub is such an iconic feature of the Edward River region. 

‘‘Council is absolutely delighted work can commence on its rebuild, and congratulates the new owners on their investment.’’

The Conargo Hotel has a long history, and was originally built as the Conargo Billabong Hotel.

In March 1867 it was licensed to David Rogers, the son-in-law of William McKenzie who started the village’s first hotel, the Conargo Inn, in 1858.

The two hotels were situated about 100m apart.

In February 1917 the Licensing Board considered Conargo too small to sustain two licences.

Rogers owned both buildings at the time and chose to keep the Billabong because it was in a better state of repair than the original Conargo Inn.

In 1868 the Billabong Hotel was leased to Robert Pyke, but in 1885 reverted back to Rogers.

It has had many owners since then.

The proposal for the the pub includes a lounge area, function room and bar area.

‘‘We’d like it to be similar to how it was before the fire,’’ Michael said.