Merewether locals, the wait is almost over.
The Burwood Inn is preparing to reopen its doors more than three years after a fire tore through the 150-year-old building on Berner Street.
And we finally have a date.
A tentative one.
Newcastle hotelier and Burwood Inn publican Rolly de With has told the Newcastle Herald that the popular venue will reopen "in four to six weeks' time".
Staff are being recruited and will need to be trained, though, and the final date will be contingent on that happening.
More than 40 firefighters responded to a kitchen fire at the Burwood inn just before 10am on June 20, 2023. Fifteen staff members managed to self-evacuate as the fire spread to the hotel's restaurant, bar, beer garden and storage areas.
Locals reported seeing flames as high as the roof before fire crews managed to contain the blaze.
The Burwood Inn has been closed to the public ever since.
In July 2023, Burwood Inn owner John Palmieri told the Herald he didn't intend to change anything about the pub and would reconstruct it "as it was".
A development application lodged by Mr Palmieri in 2024 to rebuild parts of the hotel destroyed or damaged by the fire stated: "The proposal involves undertaking rebuilding and alteration works with the overall objective of restoring the heritage-listed building to generally the same condition and layout as it was before the fire event."
Mr de With said the painstaking rebuild had achieved that objective and would be "very, very similar to what it was previously".
"The original tiles at the entry that were under the timber floor, they've been restored, as have the tiles in the front bar," he said.
"It's taken a fair while to restore them because of the damage that was done, which wasn't helped by years and years of lead paint and nicotine on the ceilings.
"That created challenges for Insight Building Services who took over the contract about a year ago and basically had to redo everything to get it right."
The rebuild was delayed when arrangements with the builder originally contracted to do the work fell through, and a new builder had to be found.
Mr de With, whose son Nic will be The Burwood Inn's licensee, said it had been "a complicated situation between the insurance company, the original builder and the insured".
Warren Fouracre, head chef at The Junction Hotel, which is owned by Mr de With, will oversee the food offering at The Burwood Inn.
"He is very good, and he's been working with me a long time," Mr de With said.
"We've installed some really good equipment in Burwood's kitchen, including a parrilla grill for the steaks.
"Yes, the steaks will be back. It's always been known as a great steak restaurant, and that won't change."
Don't expect a grand reopening party, though. Not yet, anyway.
"I need to find staff, train staff ... a lot of people who did work there have understandably gone elsewhere," Mr de With said.
"We'll most likely open quietly.
"As you saw with the hundreds of responses to our social media posts on Tuesday night, when words gets out of an opening date, I will have to hire security to man the doors [laughs].
"There are so many people ringing me asking if they can book, asking if their seat is still in the front bar, that kind of thing, which just reinforces that we're not the owners of The Burwood Inn, it's the community's pub, and we're just the custodians."
