THE front bar of the P&O Hotel in Fremantle has reopened for the first time in 20 years, restoring a connection to pubs on the site that stretches back to the 1830s.
Known as Ode to Sirens, it’s the brainchild of Perth hospitality guru Daniel Goodsell, who’s had a stake in some of Perth’s most famous restaurants over the last 20 years, including Balthazar, Duende, Bread in Common and Il Lido.
And while he’s often referred to as the right-hand man to restaurateur Nick Trimbole, Ode to Sirens is clearly his own passion project – he’s even staking his record collection on it.
“The whole bar’s going to be analogue, with vinyl, tapes and reel-to-reel,” Mr Goodsell told the Herald.
A former muso who cut his teeth playing Freo pubs such as the Nash and Cleopatras, Mr Goodsell says he’ll be taking over the turntable on Saturdays to spin some vinyl from his own collection.
But don’t expect a DJ mix of blended beats, as he’s more than likely to simply flip the record over after playing side A in its entirety.
“The idea of a long playing record is that an album travels; there is a story behind it,” he says.
Freo’s seen a proliferation of bars opening over the last couple of years (there were three applications just at Fremantle council’s September meeting), but Mr Goodsell believes there’s still scope for the West End to build and create the sort of vibe you find down in South Fremantle.
• Daniel Goodsell’s been behind a host of successful restaurants and bars, but this time he’ll be up-front with the new Ode to Siren’s and is putting his musical taste in vinyl on the line. Photo by Steve Grant
Greek tradition
Vin Populi has been smashing it in the old Roma building down towards the Round House, and are deep into construction for a wine bar next door.
But Mr Goodsell says he’s creating an “old-style” bar and restaurant where even students can afford to have a drink, so is unlikely to be pitching to the same clientele.
“We probably will not get the Range Rovers,” he says tongue-in-cheek of their trendy crowds.
“We are going to do Mediterranean food, but with a heavy leaning on Greek tradition.”
He says they haven’t yet decided what to do with the remainder of the building, but there’s a stunning bar upstairs and a great front room he hints might have life as a jazz dive given it’s high windows.
The P&O had been used for student accommodation by Notre Dame university during its dry years, and Mr Goodsell says short-term accommodation might also be on the cards.
The corner of High and Mouat streets was first opened as a hotel/boarding house in 1835 by Elizabeth Pace, an independent woman who decided on her own merit to join her ship captain husband Walter in the Swan River Colony.
It became the Crown and Thistle five years later, then the Victoria Hotel, and went through various owners until the mid-1890s when it was demolished and rebuilt by Bernard O’Connor and Timothy Quinlan who reopened the venue as the P&O Hotel.
by STEVE GRANT