WODONGA'S oldest watering hole will be bulldozed and replaced by a four-level serviced apartments development under plans revealed by one of the property's new owners.
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Developer David Baird and another partner have purchased the pub which ended its hotel life known as O'Maille's, but was initially the Railway Hotel when constructed in 1859 and later became the Murray River Hotel.
Mr Baird said an application to demolish the pub had already been lodged with Wodonga Council with plans being drawn up which would see the present building double in size at a value of more than $10 million
"We hope to be lodging with council an application for the serviced apartment development in early March," he said.
"We want to get on with it and hope to be building June-July.
"We've been looking around Wodonga for a suitable site and this is the only one we could find that was zoned correctly and priced correctly also.
"It will be designed by a Melbourne architect, but we will use local consultants and local tradespeople.
"It will be good for Wodonga and generate some employment."
The pub's pending demolition will leave High Street without a hotel after the Terminus Hotel was destroyed by fire in 1998.
The Murray River Hotel was re-badged as the city's first Irish-themed pub when hotel group, Cook-Beaumont took over in 2008.
In 2001, the then owners won a battle at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal to build 24 budget guest rooms on a car park at the rear of the hotel after plans were rejected by Wodonga Council.
It sold the Blazing Stump on a lease-back deal with the new owner in 2018.
The Railway Hotel was built by James Bambrick, who later served three terms as Wodonga Council president.
Jack Perry, who bought the Blazing Stump Hotel in 1929, also owned the Railway Hotel with Gordon Strang leasing the pub from him when he returned from Richmond and was appointed coach of Wodonga Bulldogs in the Ovens and Murray league in 1939.
Strang led the Bulldogs into the 1939 grand final only to be beaten by Albury, which was coached by his brother Doug.
Gordon Strang polled the most votes in the 1939 Morris medal, but was ruled ineligible before winning the award 12 months later.
The late Jack Clancy, who is an O and M league Hall of Famer, also operated the Murray River Hotel in the 1990s with Gary Paxton.
The Perry family re-entered the Wodonga pub scene when Bill Perry built Huon Hill hotel with Albury businessman Colin Joss.
The pub's pending demolition will leave High Street without a hotel after the Terminus Hotel was destroyed by fire in 1998.
