Mr Johnston worked in Border media promotion and sales and then in the liquor distribution industry, before heading to Queensland last year.

Mr Johnston, born and raised in Albury, said the opportunity to manage Soden’s was too tempting to refuse.

“I loved living on the Gold Coast and reuniting with old colleagues such as Rick Chapman,” Mr Johnston said.

“But I guess my heart has always been in Albury-Wodonga.”

Mr Johnston said he was excited about running Soden’s, which re-opened nine months ago after extensive renovations.

“Obviously growing up in the area I have had a long association with the hotel,” Mr Johnston said.

“I am looking forward to the challenge of being involved in the management of the hotel and working with Craig Shearer and Jason Sheather.”

Mr Shearer, a director of Forvic Hotels which owns Soden’s, was delighted Mr Johnston was joining the hotel.

“Graham will be taking over just after Easter,” he said.

“We had been interested in working together for quite a while, we had a great relationship when he was a representative at a liquor distributor company.

“That developed into a really strong friendship; he’s a quality person.

“As is often the way in these sort of things, it was a casual conversation between two mates that turned into something more serious.

“We’re both really excited about the future.”

Mr Shearer said he was looking forward to Mr Johnston stamping his own personality on the venue.

“From a top-line perspective, we map out the strategic future of the hotel and we spend a lot of time on that,” he said.

“What Johno provides for us is a real local feel to our management.

“He’s the man behind the bar who, when you come in, knows your name, knows what you drink and is there for a chat with you, making the venue a real local corner hotel, which is what it was designed to be.”