I had dinner at The George Hotel in South Melbourne the night before this conversation, and I’m still thinking about that prawn toast. The parma came on the bone, the romesco on the pumpkin was deeply smoky, and the vibe was spot on. Fire crackling, carpet slightly retro, and classic pub food done with care, generosity, and just the right amount of zhuzh. Usually on this podcast I speak to chefs, but hospitality goes far beyond the kitchen. My guest today is someone who’s been quietly transforming the pub scene across Victoria. Scott Connolly is a publican, but not the kind who simply owns the building and turns up for the soft launch. He’s a former actor and musician who’s worked every inch of the floor and now oversees venues like the Healesville Hotel, the Orrong, and most recently, The George. We talked about pub culture, people, parmas, carpets, and what it means to be a custodian of these places that mean so much to so many.
Thank you for dinner last night. There was so much food and it was so delicious. Classic pub food but at a whole other level…the parma on the bone, I loved, and also the prawn toast had so much flavour and bite and the pumpkin with that deep smoky romesco, amazing. I usually speak to chefs, but I love to celebrate hospitality and I feel like you’ve given a lot to the industry, so I am so happy to be talking to you. How did you get into hospitality? What drew you in? I read you’ve got a family connection.
Yeah, but that’s not really how I got into it. My first career out of school was as an actor, and naturally that made me a bartender. Then I was in bands for years, again a bartender. I just fell in love with it. The family history is there, but it’s kind of once removed. My dad wasn’t a publican, so I didn’t grow up in pubs, but we do have a long family history I learned about later. My dad says he was born upstairs at the Three Crowns Hotel in North Melbourne.
That’s really fascinating, an actor and lots of bands. That explains a lot because I think you need that kind of outgoing personality to be a publican and to work with the public. So when did you go from working in bars to owning pubs?
I probably would have done it much earlier, but I got burnt out. I worked for someone for about 10 years managing venues, and by the end of it, it was the bad old days—crazy hours, no money. I was fried. So I jumped out of it in my late 20s and worked for my old man in his commercial real estate agency, which specialized in hospitality. I was the pub guy there for about five years. I didn’t enjoy it and wasn’t great at it, but it gave me a 360 degree view of the industry I wouldn’t have had otherwise. That’s served me really well in how we operate now.
I guess the question was, when did I first get into owning? I was probably 33 or 34. I was in Sydney, opening an office, having an existential crisis—what am I going to do next? I didn’t like my job. I was doing Bondi to Bronte walks and swimming every morning at North Bondi Beach. I realized I loved hospitality and wanted to get into business. So I came back, did a couple of ventures, had some shares, and then my first pub was in Mordialloc. That was over COVID—mixed results—but I learned a lot. That led to joining the ownership group of the Orong and it’s grown from there.
I look at your venues like the Orrong Hotel in Healesville and now here at The George, and it feels like you’ve got the recipe for success. Do you have a philosophy you follow?
A recipe for success is a dangerous term, but our philosophy is that we’re pub people. We love pubs. I’m really in love with the history of pubs. We consider ourselves custodians of the venue. It was a pub long before me, and hopefully, it’ll be one long after I’m gone. If you think about it, being an actor or a musician was about craving connection. Pubs are the same. The people you meet in pubs are unreal. You think it’s going to be one thing, and then it finds its own identity. You have to listen to it and to the people in the area.
A public bar should feel like your lounge room. You should be able to pop in midweek with a couple of friends and feel comfortable. No need to queue or take out a second mortgage. That’s what people are after these days. You should be able to come here for a low-key meal that doesn’t break the bank. What we’ve found is people come back two or three times a week instead of once a month.
Scott Connolly, The George Hotel, South Melbourne
I feel like Healesville has that amazing garden out back. It’s a real country pub but with excellent food and drinks. And I felt like you brought a little bit of that country feel to the city with Orrong. When I walked in here last night, it felt like coming home—it’s so cosy, but you’ve zhuzhed it. Did you maybe bring it back to some of its original bones?
That’s what we do. We’ve learned not to impose our ideas. When we do a renovation, it’s usually soft. We look at what we love about the place and just try to restore that. This pub was mid-abandoned-renovation when we took it on. It had a cocktail bar vibe. We wanted to bring out the woods, soften the colours, add playful elements.
This carpet’s quite retro.
Yeah, it is now. Originally, we were going to get a tartan from overseas, but it was too expensive, so we created this pattern from carpet squares. It lifts the energy and gives that retro vintage vibe.
That’s something you’ve done across your businesses, bring it back to that loungy pub feel.
Exactly. A public bar should feel like your lounge room. You should be able to pop in midweek with a couple of friends and feel comfortable. No need to queue or take out a second mortgage. That’s what people are after these days. You should be able to come here for a low-key meal that doesn’t break the bank. What we’ve found is people come back two or three times a week instead of once a month.
It’s so cosy here. The fire burning is such a nice touch.
Lots of people live in places without fireplaces, so we wanted to offer that. It makes it feel like home.
It used to be there was a pub on every corner, especially in South Melbourne. But recently, we couldn’t find an open one here.
What day was that?
It was in summer, maybe. But it felt like every pub we looked at was shuttered, maybe turning into apartments.
Some of the traditional pubs have found it hard to stay open. Port Melbourne still has a few, but local areas, it’s been tough. The pub industry, like all industries, goes through cycles. Each pub has a life cycle. If you’re not adapting to the community, that’s when it reaches the end.
How do you get a sense of the community vibe?
You just have to be here. Spend time, meet people, shake hands, buy someone a beer. It’s been true for 100 years and it’s true now.
I love what I do. I love the industry. Pubs have a particular place in Australian culture. It’s our job to be custodians for the next generation. My great-grandmother and grandfather both had pubs. I don’t want to see them disappear. They’re important for all of us.
Scott Connolly, The George Hotel, South Melbourne
When you have three pubs, how do you stay across them all? You’re such a people person.
Yes and no. I still go around, but not as often. Orrong and Healesville have incredible management teams. Once they mature, they don’t need you as much. It’s bittersweet. You feel like the kid’s grown up and doesn’t need you anymore.
Is that what makes you want to get another one?
Probably. There’s a moment in opening a pub where I feel most alive. I’m probably chasing that.
The media always say “publican Scott Connolly has owned a new pub,” but you’ve got others in your group, right?
Yes, and it’s different people at each venue. We’ve been selective. We had people wanting in, and we thought carefully, Will these guys make good business partners? We secured this venue and offered shares to people we wanted. You met Paul last night; great partners, not just investors. They’re all full-time pub people.
Is it hard to keep everyone happy?
I’ll let you know! But so far, not really. We were about four or five months late opening, and people were getting antsy, but they’re happy now.
That’s still pretty good. Some places are late by much more.
True, but we work backwards from the date to stay on track. It can blow out quickly.
People say the cost of food is up, but your menu is really reasonable. I don’t know how you’re doing it.
It’s just about buying well. You’ve got to be working with your suppliers and negotiating. We’ve grouped our venues for better deals. But it’s never been harder to make money out of pubs. We did our SWOT analysis. When we looked at this, we thought, you know, there’s institutions like Lamaro’s and O’Connell’s and, you know, we’re not really here to go up against them. We think there’s enough space to do what we do. And what we do is a comfortable space that doesn’t require a second mortgage to come in and have a meal. And we are really happy with the food.
You have to have parma and steak on the menu, don’t you?
Absolutely. Fish and chips too. You’ve got to have them, but you’ve got to do them well. Outside of that, we trust our chefs. We don’t tell them to just replicate the Orrong menu. Each pub has its own identity. We will do a spring menu mid-August and the chef will put more of himself into that. He is Egyptian, so we’ll lean into more Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavours.
That’s another great layer. I love the back area here too, it’s sunny and going to be so good for lunch in the summer.
Yeah, Wednesdays we get a good rush over maybe an hour and a half. And people sat out there today. Fifteen years ago, I managed the Rising Sun here. South Melbourne’s always had a great pub culture. I saw it just before the ATO crackdown on long lunches. But I fell in love with the scene. And this was the one I always thought, you know, whenever I’d go up to Chef’s Hat on an errand I’d think, the George, that’s the one. If I can get one, it’d be the George.
Well, congratulations. You got it.
Thank you. It’s funny, these pubs come back to you. I fell in love with Healesville years before owning it. They come back around.
Do you have any nostalgic memories from your pubs? Any particular stories or people?
Lots. When I first got serious about pubs, I was 25 and an assistant manager at All Nations in Richmond. The people I met there still mean a lot. When I run into someone from that time, it’s really special. Same here in South Melbourne, when I see old faces from back then, it’s like running into long-lost friends.
You’re definitely in the right job.
I love what I do. I love the industry. Pubs have a particular place in Australian culture. It’s our job to be custodians for the next generation. My great-grandmother and grandfather both had pubs. I don’t want to see them disappear. They’re important for all of us.
The George Hotel, 139 Cecil Street, South Melbourne