The Rodeo Bar at the Mount Isa Hotel has been out of action for the last month while its owners closed it open for renovations but it was looking great when it was formally re-opened on Friday.

Hotel owner Albert Hakfoort said they purchased the hotel in 2007 when it was barely functional and needed a lot of clean up.

“When we opened the hotel in 2009 it was not exactly how we envisaged it,” Mr Hakfoort said.

“Fast forward six and a half years to today, we’ve been able to refurbish this hotel to a standard we wanted to deliver and we hope you enjoy it.”

Mr Hakfoort said the renovations were a vote of confidence in Mount Isa despite the recent commodities downturn.

“We could have waited until Mount Isa got out of the downturn it is experiencing but we don’t know how long that will be,” he said.

“But Mount Isa has a bright and long and prosperous future and by doing this we know we will be rewarded in time.”

Mayor Tony McGrady praised the contribution of the Hakfoort family to Mount Isa including Albert’s father Albert Hakfoort senior who started out as a printer in a corrugated tin shed and who died last year.

“Albert (senior) built the Mount Isa House and it’s the only place in the whole of Australia where two prime ministers have actually opened it,” Cr McGrady said.

“I invited Bob Hawke to do the opening and then Paul Keating came and he did the blessing.”

Cr McGrady said the Hakfoort family had invested every dollar they made in Mount Isa and they were still doing it today.

He also said projects like Gunpowder and the new phosphate mine showed the city was on the way back.

“This is not just about celebrating the renovation of the Mount Isa Hotel but the renovation of the city,” he said.

State member Robbie Katter cut the ribbon with Mr Hakfoort to officially open the bar. Check out our photo gallery online.