Buyer on the cards for Doodle Cooma Arms Hotel in Henty

It comes as the current owner of the iconic pub will close its doors next Monday after attempting to sell the watering hole for the past five years.

John Ellis is one of a dozen locals who have rallied together to save the pub. 

They have formulated three different ways the Doodle Cooma Arms can stay afloat. 

“One of them is to have a community-owned hotel, the other option is to have a private investor with community backing, and the third one is a private investor doing the job on their own,” he said.

The pub is the only hotel in Henty and is listed for sale at $300,000. 

It has accommodation, a bar, lounge, TAB, kitchen and a covered in beer garden, and is a popular haunt during the Henty Machinery Field Days.

Mr Ellis said the group was hopeful the private investor could purchase the pub, however, was fully committed to the idea of a community pub as a possible last resort. 

He said it was still more than likely the pub will close this weekend, however, he predicted it wouldn’t be down for long. 

“Henty is a very resilient town,” he said.

“In any time of crisis it comes together and comes up with a solution.

“We’ve proven that time and time again.

“The most favourable and preferred option would be to have a private buyer, and that looks like it may come to fruition.

“[A community pub] is the least preferred option, but if it has to happen it will happen and it will work, there is enough support in the community.”

Henty Historical Society secretary John Ebsworth said the Doodle Cooma Arms Hotel was an important part of the town’s long and proud history.

It was originally built in 1889, a year after the township of Henty was founded.

The pub is the only two-storey building in the main street and features prominently near the highway, he said. 

“It is quite a focal point of town,” Mr Ebsworth said.

“The dining room has probably housed more meetings than any other premise in Henty.” 

Henty resident and Greater Hume Shire deputy Mayor Doug Meyer said the pub was “essential to the fabric “ of the town.

It was a view he believed his fellow councillors backed, he said.

“My interest is in keeping the pub going,” Cr Meyer said.

“We just hope that group can come up with a solution.”