One of the city’s key hospitality groups is taking charge to reopen The Fox, with a bar, bistro, late-night cocktail lounge and rooftop bar.
The Fox Hotel will reopen later this year – this time under the stewardship of one of Brisbane’s highest-profile hospitality groups.
Ghanem Group – best known for restaurants such as Byblos, Donna Chang, Blackbird and many others – announced it would revive the South Brisbane pub, which has remained closed since it was inundated by the 2022 floods.
Ghanem will open the venue on its Fish Lane side and has commissioned Southport-based Space Cubed Studio to lead the refurbishment of its ground-floor public bar and bistro, and rooftop terrace with its unique views of the CBD and the surrounding arts precinct.
The project will also feature a late-night cocktail lounge, two function spaces, and a gaming lounge with adjoining bottle shop.
“We feel very strongly about reviving this crucial component of Brisbane’s nightlife,” Ghanem Group director Adonis Ghanem told this masthead.
“It’s also such an iconic building. All of our restaurants are located at very unique sites, that’s part of our DNA, so it’s a good fit in that respect. But it also provides the opportunity to develop a multi-level precinct with a range of dining, drinking and event experiences.”
Fish Lane has become one of the city’s key food and drink precincts in the past decade, with highly regarded restaurants such as Southside, Julius, Maeve, Hello Please and La Lune all having a presence on the once obscure byway. But the empty multi-level Fox, between Melbourne Street and Fish Lane on the corner of Hope Street, has been a ghostly blank space for the area since its closure.
“Bringing a new lease of life to such a landmark site will … help unlock the full potential of the precinct,” Ghanem said.
The Fox first opened as Hotel Terminus in 1927 and was notable for being one of the few hotels built during the interwar period. It underwent an extensive refurbishment in 1988 and later became a topless bar named The Sly Fox, before being refurbed again in 2006 and becoming The Fox (which is perhaps best remembered for launching $2 steak Sundays in 2009).
“We’re actually really excited,” Ghanem said about the reopening, which is penned in for the fourth quarter of 2025.
“The responsibility we have to restore this architectural legacy and to create an incredible venue is the type of project we thrive on.”
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Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.
