One of the most historic pubs in Cloncurry has changed hands, with the new owner set to give the pub a new lease of life.
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Trevor Jones may be new to Cloncurry but is not new to the industry, following 11 and a half years owning and managing the Boulia pub.
Mr Jones purchased the Post Office Hotel on December 2 from Ian and Nancy Dodd, who had owned the PO Hotel for almost 30 years.
"Purchasing the PO Hotel was a quick decision really," Mr Jones said.
"I had a phone call Wednesday afternoon, flew out of Sydney on Thursday, inspected and made an offer on the Friday, offer was accepted Friday night, back to Sydney on Saturday.
"I worked in Boulia and got out in 2014 and went walk-about around the world, but I wanted to look at getting my mind active again and when this came up I thought why not.
"I was looking to do something and we have a good feel for Cloncurry, it's a nice tidy town, the people are really nice, so here we are."
Mr Jones said although he had no big plans for the pub, improvements were being made to the interior of the establishment.
"I came in with no big plans, just to continue operations and getting it running back to normal - clean and tidy," he said.
"We have a nice little hotel here so we are just going to jazz it up a bit inside, we have repainted the front bar, replaced lighting and air-conditioning and doing up the kitchen so it can be running up to 100 meals a night."
Since taking over the PO Hotel, Mr Jones said most feedback had been positive.
"We have had lots of good comments about the place being clean and looking a lot different," he said.
"Over the weekend of February 28, we are hosting a Mardi Gras. There have been a lot of people excited but there is also some negativity because some people don't like something new.
"In 2017/18 we took the Outback to Mardi Gras in Sydney and we had a country crowd float, with a mechanical bull and country singer on the back of a truck, which got a lot of attention. So now we decided to bring Mardi Gras to the Outback.
"We are flying in some drag queens from Adelaide, we will have bingo, trivia, the parade on the television and just a fun night, so it will be something a bit different."
Mr Jones said he had a five year plan for the hotel.
"We have a five year plan to get the pub up to where I want it," he said.
"We also plan to have concert here at rodeo for Curry Merry Muster including Ali S from Boulia coming out and performing with some big named friends over the rodeo weekend.
"So we are looking forward to hosting people here for different events in Cloncurry."
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Samantha Campbell
Samantha Campbell (nee Walton) has worked for regional and rural publications across New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. She is currently writing for the North Queensland Register based in North West Queensland. Email: samantha.campbell@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Samantha Campbell (nee Walton) has worked for regional and rural publications across New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. She is currently writing for the North Queensland Register based in North West Queensland. Email: samantha.campbell@austcommunitymedia.com.au
