Mudgee’s New Hub

Like the town itself, Club Mudgee — formerly known as The Mudgee Soldiers Club — has a rich history, with the current upgrade set to bring the venue’s offering into line with the expectations of a growing membership base and countless visitors.

“In conjunction with the Board and hospitality consultants Tully Heard, there was an opportunity not only to revitalise areas of the Club that had singular or periodic use but to upgrade facilities to the evolving market,” says Club Mudgee CEO Andrew Lancaster.

“The result will be a refashioned core club facility. The core business of bar, food, gaming and functions will have focus on current technologies, vision and offers.

“Spaces have been created for different membership demographics and focusing on members current and future, with the evolving demographics of Mudgee.”

The project comes with an overall price tag of around $4 million, with works currently going to schedule. The first stage, the new The Hub Sports Bar, officially opened on 1 July, with a renewed focus on Mudgee’s world-class local wines, spirits, craft beer and food.

The next stage of the renovation will involve a revitalised entry space, a new beer garden overlooking the bowling greens, an updated gaming room and the reopening of kids’ play areas within the Club.

“In conjunction with the Board and hospitality consultants Tully Heard, there was an opportunity not only to revitalise areas of the Club that had singular or periodic use but to upgrade facilities to the evolving market”

^{Club Mudgee CEO Andrew Lancaster}

Set to be unveiled in late September, the final stage will deliver a huge members’ lounge featuring balcony seating which will open up the entire Club to street frontage with a focus on natural light.

“It has been great to see how eager the membership has been as the project progresses, with excitement about each stage opening or fascination with different fittings able to be seen from various locations in the Club,” says Andrew.

“The priority at this stage is to ensure we are hitting the mark with our local market and then continue the refashioning into expansion and diversification methods including, but not limited to, live music, sport and other markets of a two-time gold medal top tourist town.”

Tully Heard’s John Tully has praised the Club’s leadership for its attitude towards, and execution of, an ambitious and forward-thinking development strategy.

“A strategy is only as good as its execution, and it is refreshing to see Andrew embrace the plan and focus on delivering the key internal success factors to ensure the operation will be a success,” says John.

“He is a very capable leader and professional operator that the Club’s Board recruited after they had signed off on the strategy. He has been an excellent recruit and the Board has done a great job here and we know how important this aspect is regarding effective Board governance.”

Club Mudgee also fashioned itself into being the unofficial home of the Matildas during the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup, with locals enjoying the new facilities as they cheered on the team’s historic run to the semi-finals.

You can read more about the Club’s renovation plans here.