South Australian Government 'saves' live music venue but with possible two year closure

The South Australian Government yesterday declared that it had “saved” the Crown and Anchor - an Adelaide live music hotel on Grenfell Street - but the manager warns that despite the reprieve, a possible two year closure would significantly impact the future of the venue.

The South Australian Government entered into an agreement with Singaporean developer Wee Hur Holdings, which had been intending to knock down all but the façade of the Crown and Anchor - commonly known as the ‘Cranker’ - to protect the 140-year-old pub and preserve it as a live music venue.

The agreement will see the developer abandon plans to demolish all but the façade of the live music hotel on Grenfell Street to build a 19-storey student accommodation building.

Instead, the State Government will introduce special purpose legislation to permit the developer to build up to 29-storeys on the site adjoining the hotel, with the State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP) to assess the application within 10 business days of the development application being lodged.

However, this agreement permits the developer to partially demolish and restore the pub’s live music room to install noise attenuation and acoustic treatments.

Once development approval is granted, the Crown and Anchor Hotel will undergo a period of temporary closure – possibly up to two years - for the student accommodation to be built and acoustic treatments to be prepared.

So, while the deal between the government and developers has protected the building, Crown and Anchor proprietor Tom Skipper said there was "no way" the business "could afford" to close for that long with SA Premier Peter Malinauskas advising the government was "sitting down" to look at potential options.

Skipper noted that while the agreement between State Government and developer Wee Hur Holdings was a "wonderful result" that would keep the pub "in perpetuity for ever and a day", he also told ABC Radio Adelaide the deal would come at the cost of his other businesses on the same site, and that a temporary closure of the pub while construction takes place next door — which the government said could last up to two years — would be "a blow to the live music industry" and to his 71 staff.

Skipper added "I am working with the government to look at alternative options in terms of a proposed temporary site. Let's call it a Cranker pop-up, that would be the desired result. There's no way we could afford to have a two-year shutdown."

The State Government is also looking to amend planning laws to protect significant live music pubs in the City of Adelaide area from neighbour complaints.

The bill will require the installation of noise attenuation and or acoustic treatments on future developments built alongside key live music venues.

According to the ABC, the state's opposition has questioned the process by which the Cranker deal was reached, saying it created a precedent for developers to go directly to the premier, bypassing the State Commission Assessment Panel.

"There's a few concerns about the way the premier's gone about this, charging in on his white horse," opposition planning spokeswoman Michelle Lensink told ABC Radio Adelaide.

"My understanding … [is] this particular proposal — the 19 storeys — was already over the zoning height for the capital city zone.

"I just don't know where this leaves the independence of our planning system, which the parliament thought was a good idea a few years ago. Now the premier can just change things on a whim."

However, Premier Malinauskas considers the result a "rare win-win" adding “this is what can happen when Government works in partnership with the private sector and the community to achieve a win-win-win outcome.

“No taxpayer money has been provided to the developer to secure the Crown and Anchor as a pub and live music venue.

“This solution protects one of Adelaide’s great venues, delivers urgently needed student accommodation in a housing crisis and maintains our state’s strong reputation as an investment destination.

“I’d like to thank Wee Hur and the Save the Cranker group for engaging genuinely and constructively with the Government to come up with an innovative solution.”

Save the Cranker board member Patrick Maher added “we have won our fight to save the pub. Our work is not finished.

“We will explore ways of working with others to protect and support the continuity of the Cranker’s culture and community through this phase of transition.

“We will also act as watchdogs over the changes to the Cranker.”

Image. Artist Impression. The new proposal for the Wee Hur development includes a plan for up to 29 storeys on an adjacent site. (Supplied: SA government)