The Hepburn Café (you may remember it as Harry’s) is opening on Good Friday.  That’s the first piece of good news for Hepburn locals and tourists. Stay tuned though as there’s more good news to come.

It’s fair to say, that Hepburn has been suffering from the economic turndown with several hospitality businesses shutting down over the last year.  A combination of Covid fallout and the cost-of-living crisis, meant the market was just too tough for some of the local businesses.  It was even being referred to as ‘deadburn’ at one point!  Needless to say, that was tough to hear for local Hepburnians.  Of course Rubens, Bellinzona’s Virgin Café, Hepburn Pizza and The General Store have kept Hepburn hospitality going and will continue to do a great job for locals and tourists alike, thank goodness.

A welcoming, refurbished interior. (Photo: Robyn Rogers)

So first let’s talk about The Hepburn Café and it’s owner Shane Dale.  Shane and Stacey, his wife, are looking forward to opening and bringing the café back to life.  When asked what the plan was for the café, Shane said ‘it’s all about local – local produce, local staff, in-house baking, great coffee’.  They will be open for breakfast and lunch every day from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm. and serving coffee from the Cherry Mount Roastery.

Shane has recently moved on from a pub in The Grampians that he had for the last 2 years but has a history in accommodation, plumbing and cleaning.  Management of accommodation properties and ownership of a caravan park have also given Shane plenty of experience in service industries over the years.   He’s very keen to get started at The Hepburn Café and locals will no doubt be keen to patronise it.

So what’s the rest of the good news?  Wait for it……Shane and Stacey are also the new leasees of The Savoia Hotel!  Yes Hepburn is about to have a pub again which is great news.  There’s still a 2-3 week lead time on the opening of The Savoia while they wait on the liquor licence approval but be assured the opening is imminent.

Some further discussions revealed that Shane is well aware of some of the issues that people had with the hotel and there are plans to improve the acoustics and make it into a cosier, family friendly hotel.  It will even have a Kids Corner and the beer garden is also being made over and will also be dog friendly.  The plan is to have some local musicians on sometimes, provide some function areas and serve traditional pub food with some local beers and wines. Shane has brought three chefs from Melbourne who will live locally and service both the café and the pub.  It’s great to see both these businesses coming back to life.

So two questions and a plea remain – who are the new owners of the old Frank and Connie’s and when will it open? The newspaper is up in the windows and there is some activity happening so something is imminent!  And the plea?  Can someone please buy the Palais and bring it back to life, we really miss it.