The 141-year-old pub closed its doors last week with a sign on the front door telling customers it was shut due to renovations.

O’Maille’s is owned by the Cook-Beaumont Hotel Group.

Director Richard Davis said the closure was not linked to work starting on 24 guest rooms which gained approval from the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in 2011.

“We want to change the direction of the hotel,” he said.

“We are just looking at our options.

“I would be taking a stab in the dark if I commented on how long it would be closed for.”

The former Murray River Hotel at the northern end of High Street is one of Wodonga’s oldest pubs after being built in the 1870s when it was called The Railway Hotel.

It was re-badged as the city’s first Irish-themed pub when its owners took over in 2008.

The Melbourne-based Cook-Beaumont Hotel Group bought O’Maille’s a year after buying the Blazing Stump Hotel, from the Perry family which had it for 80 years.

The group also owns the Criterion Hotel at Yarrawonga.

Wodonga Council originally refused a permit for 24 guest rooms on a car park behind O’Maille’s.

Among its reasons was the proposal represented another motel and the city had an over-supply of tourist beds.

The closure of O’Maille’s follows two significant moves in the Wodonga pub industry in the past 12 months.

The Huon Hill Hotel has opened as part of a $25 million joint development with Quest Apartments.

The Carrier Arms has also had a makeover as Monty’s Bar and Grill.

Last September O’Maille’s suffered minor damage from a fire that started in the laundry area.

Lang Zikesch managed O’Maille’s before switching to the Huon Hill last year.