It wasn’t so long ago that the Newmarket Hotel was a dive pub with a sticky carpet, down-market decor, Hungarian food and the weekly ‘Schnitz and Tits’ and ‘Spag and Drag’ nights. Now though, the Newmarket is a shadow of its former self; literally all that’s left is the façade.

The Hotel has been taken over, resurrected and revamped by the team who breathed life into the Middle Park Hotel and the Albert Park Hotel; The Melbourne Pub Group.

Julian Gerner, of Melbourne Pub Group has assembled a triumvirate ‘A’ team once more for the launch of the Newmarket Hotel St Kilda including Mark Healy from Six Degrees, Chef Paul Wilson and Publican about town, Julian Gerner who have conceived a unique and edgy new concept for Newmarket Hotel, Inkerman Street, St Kilda.

Once again Six Degrees have taken an historical pub, maintained the old red brick facade and married it with contemporary cool. Indoor and outdoor spaces meld seamlessly, creating an environment suitable for all seasons. Upon entry you are greeted by a light infused bar and dining room with a very airy outdoor beer garden complete with cosy corner banquettes and planters for shade. The indoor dining areas are intimate and are set within grand arches where diners are seated on seventies ‘tub’ chairs.

“In this venue, ideas of the old St Kilda and the old Newmarket Hotel, are reconstituted into the new”, says Mark Healy.

The signature Six Degrees palette of finishes and textures add textural intrigue with a mix of red, brown, black and yellow recycled brick, marble, tin pressed ceilings and iconic retro style chairs. The dramatic concrete arches down the eastern wall of the venue are enlivened by the vivid blue ceiling and clever use of skylights.

The back of the restaurant features a unique ‘Chefs Table’, which seats up to sixteen guests underneath a suspended chandelier of hanging chillies, garlic and artichokes, and has been produced from slabs of timber re-cycled from the Princess pier.

The brief given to Six degrees was for a pub that understood St Kilda’s history and needs whilst also relating to locals and visitors in a relaxed way. The hotel keeps alive the ‘social’ and ‘local’ aspect of the way hotels have been traditionally used. The old building fabric has been retained to provide an understanding of past histories and has also been linked to the new.

“We’ve expressed the underlying history of the old public bar, a male only domain, by blowing out the old façade openings and offering a new open and inclusive environment,” explained Mark Healy, design architect. “The hotel keeps alive the ‘social’ and ‘local’ aspect of the way hotels have been traditionally used. The old building fabric has been retained to provide an understanding of past histories and has also been linked to the new. This aspect is most visually evident in the use of the existing wallpaper design, recontextualised in this new environment.”

The project consists of a collection of four main spaces stitched together to form a unified building.
Solar orientation and the requirement to keep the original building on Inkerman Street are main influences on the site. The new building form expresses the spatial requirements in a modern hotel. The programme tries to create different environments offering choices of communal and intimate spaces at varying degrees, formal and informal spaces for drinking and dining.

Project was so successful in providing a cost effective and valuable outcome that Six Degrees are currently engaged in a new project with the same operator.

The audio system was designed and installed by Your Sound Investment and it was unusual in this instance due to the different demands it had to deal with and the general look of the venue. The main bar and restaurant locations have a combination of ceiling loudspeakers by Bose DS100F (for high volume level location) and Redback (low volume level locations and toilets), along with a hidden Turbosound sub bass unit buried in the ceiling behind and air-conditioning diffuser.

Amplifiers are by QSC, Australian Monitor and Quest with a Cloud Venue 4 control system with RSL6 wall controls for overall control.

Due to the differences in the loudspeakers and purpose, good quality 31-band equalisers – dbx in this case - were used across each zone to achieve optimum sonic quality throughout the venue.

The outdoors areas are catered for by some Bose in-ground loudspeakers that sound particularly good in this instance.

There are audio inputs for two IPod’s at the bar that can be zoned to any location. In addition at the end of the main bar near the entrance, is a specific input for a 70’s Luxman Pre-Amplifier with a dual turntable for playing vinyl. With the addition of some EQ the sound is nice and warm, like vinyl should be.

A reception desk has been fitted out with inputs and power for DJ’s to bring their tools and play some tunes. This feature has a dbx compressor/limiter fitted to keep volume levels in check.

“The end result is very pleasing to the ear and was achieved on a strict, conservative budget,” commented Richard Hallam, managing director of Your Sound Investment. “We have been provided with a lot of opportunities by the Melbourne Pub Group in the past to do interesting projects and this was no exception.”

Newmarket Hotel St Kilda opened just in time for the Christmas trade season – with an outdoor beer garden, dining area and corner local it soon became the watering hole for inked up locals, bohemians, musos and grungy hipsters.

In designing the look and feel of the venue, Julian Gerner says he drew inspiration from the grungy personality of St Kilda, and wanted to embrace the sometimes controversial nature of the historical suburb, rather than shy away.

“It was about channeling the DNA of St Kilda and its previous inhabitants, with the result being an incorporation of modern hospitality, with a nod to the old days of pots, punks and punters of St Kilda”, says Gerner.