For decades, Bojangles Saloon in Alice Springs was an iconic watering hole where locals and tourists gathered for a distinctive entertainment experience.
Endowed with historic merchandise, quirky knick-knacks on the walls and ceilings and unique live entertainment, the western-themed pub became a storied rendezvous in the central Australian town.
But in its later years the pub slipped into disarray, with community concerns about failures to remove intoxicated patrons and brawls that threatened public safety.
Then, in 2020, amid a forced closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, licensee and publican Anthony "Tony" Habib was caught selling alcohol out of his taxi 149 times, much of it destined for dry communities, in what a prosecutor called "the most egregious Liquor Act offending ... to date in the Northern Territory".
The NT Liquor Commission used its emergency powers to shut down Bojangles indefinitely and Habib was jailed and disqualified from holding a liquor licence for 10 years.
Almost three years on, the pub's double-swinging entrance doors remain shut.
Now, under new ownership — and after an extensive legal battle to regain a late-night trading licence — Bojangles Saloon will re-open in a matter of weeks.
After 67 years, 'final dream' remains
Landlord Lori Ventura-Del Giacco purchased the site where the saloon stands – 80 Todd Street – in 1965 for 7,500 pounds.
The 82-year-old, who managed the guesthouse and restaurant at the site with her husband in the 60s and 70s, said the return of Bojangles meant a great deal to the town.
"I like to see it running well and I love to see people prosper," she said.
"This is my final dream, my dream we've started here."
Ms Ventura-Del Giacco's memories of the business are many and varied but perhaps none more mesmerising than the birth of her son on the restaurant floor.
She said before her husband, Jim Del Giacco, died in 2021 she made a promise to him she would not sell the property.
"He said, 'Lori, whatever you want to sell, don't sell Bojangles'," Ms Ventura-Del Giacco said.
"We could have sold it three, four times last year — people from Darwin, from Perth, they even had a deposit of $1 million in the bank for it.
"I said, 'Take them away' because I can't sell it ... I won't change my mind."
She said she was confident the new licensees — Pearl Randhay and Rupinder Singh – would keep the memories alive at the venue for many years to come.
Nostalgia in every corner
Bojangles even gained a following around the world from audiences able to live-stream the happenings of the pub through cameras placed around the venue.
In the 1990s, when Keith Drew was working as a probation and parole officer, the Todd Street watering hole was a second home.
"It's a memory that never will go away from me," he said.
"I still see old staff in Alice, walking around doing other jobs now.
"We're still here and Bo's has got to reopen — it's just a part of an iconic Alice Springs."
Mr Drew said he would occasionally perform at the venue when his mate — a ringer named Buddy Tyson — talked him into being in his show.
"He could sit there and just talk yarns for half an hour … and he would just keep people laughing," Mr Drew said.
"Then he'd pick up his whip and I'd walk over and I'd put a blazing piece of newspaper in the crack of me bum and he'd put it out.
"I'd put a cigarette in (my) mouth and he'd take it out my mouth with his whip, or take my hat off."
Legal battle to bring back Bo's
Ms Randhay and Mr Singh have faced an uphill battle to bring Bojangles back to life since purchasing the business in February last year.
The Liquor Commission rejected the pair's application, ruling the return of the late-night venue would not be in the public interest and would have a "significantly adverse impact on the community".
In an unusual move, then-chief minister Michael Gunner came out in support of the applicants, saying the Commission – an independent statutory authority established by his government — had made the wrong decision.
Ms Randhay appealed, taking her case to the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NTCAT), which found in her favour.
In a decision handed down in April, NTCAT concluded that, despite the area being "a hotspot for violence and anti-social behaviour", the commission had "somewhat misstated the issue" and failed to apply the law.
"The issue is not whether the precinct is 'currently conducive to late-night trading', rather it is whether (Ms Randhay's) application for a licence and late-night authority satisfies the statutory criteria," the commission found.
"We accept … that (Ms Randhay and Mr Singh) have a 'proven track record' of owning and managing successful businesses in Alice Springs, which stands them in good stead for scaling up to a larger enterprise."
A reopening date has not yet been set, but Ms Randhay hopes the double-swinging doors will welcome patrons once again before the end of the year.
Operations manager Rebecca Ogden said the task of getting the pub ready to re-open was "daunting" but patrons could expect to find the Bojangles of old, with the odd "modern touch".
"It's very much staying the same," she said.
"Yes, we've got new owners but as someone who grew up here — and I get to run this gorgeous place — nothing is really going to change.
"Take any old-school outback imagery in your head that you have of Australia and this is the one pub where it all comes to life."
