A new and improved kitchen and pizza oven are among the proposals contained in a development application submitted to City of Newcastle by the owners of the Honeysuckle Hotel.
Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group Pty Limited (ALH Group), who also own Cardiff's Iron Horse Inn, Jewells Tavern and Charlestown's Mattara Hotel, lodged the application last week.
Most of the proposed work, the application states, will occur inside the Lee Wharf Building C building on Honeysuckle Drive in areas dating back to 2010 when the hotel first opened. The estimated cost of the work is $915,205.
None of the works proposed involve the demolition of original structures or fabrics predating 2010.
The main bar will be refitted with new bar equipment, benches, shelving, glass-fronted fridges and glass trolleys, and the scullery will receive new equipment and fittings.
The existing kitchen will have a cool room reduced in size to accommodate new dishwashing equipment including a new exhaust hood and duct to serve the dishwasher. The exhaust duct "may penetrate original weatherboards, but these are concealed by the multi-layered gable-end detailing", the application states.
The servery adjacent to the kitchen will become a "pizza preparation space" with a "visible pizza oven, new bench, sink, racking, flooring, water and electrical services and a new mechanical flue".
Lee Wharf Building C, and its nearby twin Building A, are the last remaining wharf structures of Lee Wharf and were constructed during the Federation Period.
Building A previously housed the Newcastle Maritime Museum and in 2021 an initial development application by Hope Estate was approved by the council to transform the site into a destination venue to be known as Hope at Honeysuckle.
An amendment development application to "enhance the venue offering" was lodged by Hope Estate in 2023 and, according to Hunter and Central Coast Development Corporation, "construction works are now expected to commence late-2024".
