Perched on the banks of the Yarra River and only minutes walk from the CBD, The Wharf Hotel is superbly located in Melbourne’s most recently developed waterfront precinct.

The setting for drinking and dining is like none other along the river. With premium areas both indoors and outdoors, The Wharf Hotel enjoys the unique combination of a friendly local pub with stunning city views and waterfront ambience.”

The architecture and interior draws influence from the location, seamlessly incorporating features from the old wharf in the contemporary design. This part of the city and the Yarra River is fast becoming one of Melbourne’s premiere waterfront locations.

“After seeing a presentation from Melbourne City Council regarding the development of the South Wharf precinct, we contacted WTC Wharf,” commented John Ahem of the Publican Group Australia. “We saw the opportunities and capital improvement that the land lord was making, and given WTC Wharf’s close proximity to the South Wharf precinct we decided it was the ideal location for The Wharf Hotel.

“We needed to honour the heritage of the area, and decided to incorporate features of the old wharf in the new design. We wanted The Wharf Hotel to be the only true ‘pub’ on the Yarra River. After rescuing original timber from the old wharf as it was being demolished we decided it would be perfect for the facade of the bar. We also sourced old photos of the area is its original form and used the images in a wallpaper collage. We researched John Batman and his influence on the area and included script from his diary as a wallpaper feature in the Captain’s Quarters.”

The venue has many unique features such as s a wine wall made up of hundreds of bottles and sliced wine vats from Tyrrell’s in the Hunter Valley, the bottom of a boat hangs as a feature from the roof and original images of the old Wharf feature in a wallpaper collage in the main bar, and excerpts from John Batman’s diary feature on the walls in the Captains Quarters.

The venue is designed to be multi functional, with many diverse spaces, and this has also been received really well for anyone arranging functions etc.

The private dining room - The Captain’s Quarters - is set up like an old captain’s library, perfect for wine tasting.

“We were looking for nautical and rustic features but in a modern setting,” said John. “We wanted the space to be open and inviting with an element of ‘old worldly charm’. The building was commercially designed, and the requirements of the pub (with regard to mechanical services and kitchen exhausts) were challenging to say the least.

”Lighting was extremely important to me, it is essential for highlighting features throughout the venue, for example the old timber on the front of the bar, of the bottles and vats that make up the wine wall.”

John and Steve went to great lengths to source original memorabilia and recycled materials to feature in the design. An original couta fishing boat from Queenscliff is suspended and used as a light fixture. The entrance is highlighted by original wine vats and bottles from Tyrrells winery in the Hunter Valley. The private dining room is surrounded with antique inspired memorabilia, and a fast selection of old books collected from antique stores around the country. Custom made wallpapers made from original photographs from the Museum of Melbourne feature on the wall.

The colour scheme is dictated by the choice of the timber originally, the rest of the choices were made around this feature.

Light Dimensions designed, supplied and installed the audio visual requirements opting for Electro-Voice ZX1i speakers, Bosch BCS ceiling speakers, and Bosch UB Series speakers driven by DynacordParamus and Bosch Plenna Series amplifiers.

For zone control there’s an Australian Monitor Digipage on eight zones with remote panels in the bar to control the bar, restaurant and outside areas.

For vision there are Samsung 50″ and NEC 42″ plasma screens. Vision control is by Kramer CAT5 to VGA dongles on each plasma and a Belkin 6 way vision switcher. This enables the plasmas to show either TV laptop presentations and/or advertising via the CAT5 dongles.