Susanna Freymark
The Broady has been painted matt black and surprisingly it looks good.
New publican Lynette Brown isn’t surprised. She knew it would work.
Lynette is transforming the Commercial Hotel at Broadwater and plans to open soon – although she can’t give a date yet.
As soon as the bottle shop opens, the pub will open, she said.
Lynette, 43, describes herself as a country girl – she grew up in Guyra then moved to Inverell.
She has worked at the Northern in Byron Bay, the Lennox Head pub, the Illawong at Evans Head and has managed the Shaws Bay Hotel.
So, what possessed a country girl with a lot of pub experience to take on the Broady?
There was a post about the pub on Facebook and there were 80 comments, she said.
So, she knows how important the opening of the local pub is to the community.
She applied to the owner for the lease and licence to run the pub.
She laughs. She knows how much work it is going to take to get the pub up and running.
“Everything goes into what I do.”
She wants the Broady to cater for young and old, locals and visitors.
She wants it to become a destination pub.
She’ll offer a cafe area in the pub with local artwork on the walls and three pool tables – one will be outside for the smokers.
She plans to extend the front veranda for more seating.
All this will take time. Initially only part of the pub will open.
Lynette is keen to use Lismore’s Two Mates Brewing lager to support a local brewer. Her eyes are on the big prize – a Broadwater lager.
The pub no longer has pokies and its going to take some time to get the kind of menu she’d like to see happening.
“We will keep it simple.”
There will be $15 cocktails all day too.
First there will be a soft opening with an official opening later.
Lynette is busy getting everything ready including the line on the wall marking the flood level.
It’s part of the pub’s story and history. And she knows it’s important.
She’s breathing new life into a waterlogged pub that has been dried out and painted and is taking on a new shape.
And the locals are likely to drink to that.
and then