Western Hotel Ballarat, BALLARAT CENTRAL, VIC

It’s the feeling you get when you put on an old pair of jeans and find a $20 note in the pocket. Like when you are running late and the guy leaving the car park gives you his parking ticket with just enough time on it to save you buying one.

It's like a cracking op-shop find. Uncovering a band that none of your mates are on to yet. Perfecting chicken soup. A hand-me-down watch that fits to perfection... It’s that same rush of blood you’ll feel when you see what’s happened to your old favourite – The Western Hotel.

If you’re old enough (80+, in which case you may not be so internet savvy...), you’ll remember a time when The Western was king of the hill. But aside from the weekend of the Ballarat Flower Show in 1936, this grand dame of the Ballarat social scene of old has been neglected for too long.

But much like Joan Rivers, it took nothing more than a little nip here and a small tuck there to bring this grand dame back to life and into the 21st century.

Welcome to the all new Western Hotel.