The Emerald Hotel

415 Clarendon Street, South Melbourne

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FAREWELL TO A MELBOURNE HOSPITALITY LEGEND

Vale: Gerald (Gerry) Vivian Lewis

A slight diversion today to honour the patriarch of one of, if not the best pub/s in Melbourne, The Emerald Hotel, Clarendon St, South Melbourne.

Gerry, Faye and their children, Mark, John, Jane, Paul and Andy created something special in Melbourne pub hospitality when they took over the reins of this wonderful, comfortable, warm hotel around 35 years ago.

Head there now, anytime of the day, and you will encounter a thriving, lively pub, embracing all comers with that common goal that all venues try to capture; Hospitality.

The start of Gerry (and Faye’s) journey is nowhere near as glamorous as the urbane surroundings of South Melbourne. It is at Culgoa, smack bang in the Mallee and there, through many hard hot days, they learned their craft, refined it through Ocean Grove, and now have an acme pub in Melbourne.

Publicans like Gerry are genuinely old school, embracing all the elements of human resources, psychology, disciplinarian and kindly ol’ uncle, with an encyclopedic knowledge of what’s happening in sport, especially North Melbourne and the Turf.

With the homogenisation of pub ownership, the independent operator of one (maybe two) pub/s become few and far between. The attraction of your local publican is/was to meet up with them, share wisdom, have a couple of beers and kill a few hours in a glorious nothingness.

Gerry was no exception and in his own corner (close enough to keep his eyes on everything). He would entertain sports stars, media types, and beloved patrons, while Faye made sure the working of everything else in the pub went like clockwork.

Never any shortage of good things at the gallops on the next Saturday.

Simply something magnetic about his personality drew people to him.

This is only a snapshot. The pubs mantra is “a country pub in the city”. From those days in the bush, to now, the family, headed up by Gerry, lived that to ‘T”.

The Emerald Hotel success is its longevity, now as popular as ever.

Not much changes; nor does it need to.

Farewell Gerry and thank you.