Chefs Tom and Jacqueline Brown keep coming back to The Crown & Anchor Hotel in Newcastle.
They have been part-owners of the old-school pub since 2015 and have just taken full ownership, keen to help it reach its potential as an inner-city hub.
If anyone has the experience and the drive to achieve that, it's the Browns.
Jacqueline won the Sydney Morning Herald Josephine Pignolet award in 2005, was head chef of at Sean's Panaroma and has worked in London with Gordon Ramsey and at the Michelin-starred River Cafe.
Tom has worked in top Sydney restaurants such as Quay and Icebergs, as well as River Cafe and alongside acclaimed chef Tom Aikens.
As a couple Tom and Jacqueline ran Sprout Bistro at the Bar Beach Bowling Club in 2008, with stints at Lake Macquarie Yacht Club and Lowlands Bowling Club, before opening Sprout Dining at the Honeysuckle precinct in 2010, which operated for four years.
They then branched out with Sprout Canteen at the Newcastle Museum, Coal River and Co on Darby Street, a stake at Cazador in Hunter Street Mall, and Sprout Catering which has its base at Tocal Homestead.
In 2015 the Browns bought into the Crown & Anchor with a business associate and went on to refurbish the premises, opening a casual bistro downstairs and a 45-seat restaurant upstairs, again called Sprout Dining.
Ongoing inner-city light rail construction proved disruptive to business at the Crown & Anchor and the couple made the decision to close the upstairs restaurant, focusing instead on events and catering.
Then COVID-19 struck.
"It was such a curve ball for everyone in our industry, business wise, and then there was the mental health side of things, too," Tom tells Weekender.
"It was an absolute eye-opener for me and Jacque, as we've always worked and we've always worked hard. But this time it didn't matter how hard you worked, everything was taken away."
The Browns bought Eaglereach Retreat at Vacy "right at the beginning of COVID, two weeks before it all went south".
"We bought it with the intention of running weddings and then COVID came so we moved to Eaglereach with the family and lived up there - a little wilderness getaway - and started the renovations ourselves.
"We were able to spend a lot of time on it and add our personal touch. It's an amazing venue and only an hour away from Newcastle."
When the other Crown & Anchor Hotel stakeholders moved on, the Browns made the decision to take over full ownership.
"The opportunity came up and Jacque and I thought we'd just have a go, ourselves."
Sprout Catering is going well, with a good and longstanding team that Tom describes as a family ("It's busy. I think that's why Jacque wanted to buy the pub, so she can kick me out of catering [laughs]. She's the rooster at catering and I cramp her style. But now she's at the pub too, bossing me around. I can't win [laughs again]").
In "about two or three weeks" Sprout Dining will re-open upstairs at the Crown & Anchor as a dedicated restaurant with Tom in charge of the kitchen. The space will still be used for events. A new wine bar is being built and the hotel's exterior is being given a lick of paint.
The menu will be similar to previous Sprout offerings - a cross between French and Italian ("a lazy French or busy Italian kind of style").
"I like comforting, interesting food that changes all the time. I don't have a structured plan. I hate doing the same menu week in and week out - I like playing around with it," Tom says.
"As a customer, you want somewhere you can go where it doesn't matter if you book a couple of times every couple of weeks; it's always going to be a bit different but also the same, if you know what I mean.
"The menu is a tough one to put a label on. It's more market driven. We've got a good relationship with our suppliers so it's more a matter of them telling us what they've got."
The Browns hope to take advantage of the Crown & Anchor's unique central CBD position and establish the hotel as a hub for locals as well as a destination for visitors to the city. It's located close to the soon-to-be refurbished Victoria Theatre and across the street from the QT. The Browns have been involved with the strategic planning committee and have catered at the venue.
"I turned 50 last week and I've grown up around the pubs of Newcastle and Sydney. The Crown is one of the last 'pubby' pubs in the city, it hasn't gone too flashy. It's somewhere you feel comfortable," Tom says.
"It's in a fantastic spot too. You can sit out on the balcony like I am now, looking out over the harbour. It's pretty special."
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