The gig’s up: Beloved Melbourne live music venue The Tote goes on sale
Collingwood’s legendary live music venue The Tote is up for sale, with its owners saying they have “no petrol left in the tank” following the “stresses and strains” of the pandemic.
“We signed up to save The Tote once, not expecting to have to do it twice,” co-owners Jon Perring and Sam Crupi said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Tote Hotel co-owner Jon Perring outside the Collingwood venue.Credit:Paul Jeffers
“It’s time for someone else to take it on with renewed enthusiasm and vision now COVID is behind us. We feel the timing right,” they said. “The Tote needs to broaden its business model to remain relevant in the future.
“We will be looking favourably at proposals that ensure a live music component, including buyers who wish to pursue a mixed development of the property centred around the hotel.”
They said the venue would keep hosting gigs until the transition of ownership takes place, and then “it will be up to the new owners” to manage any future bookings beyond the middle of the year.
An expression of interest listing for the hotel describes the venue has having 520 square metres of floor space, a late-night liquor licence for up to 408 patrons and the potential to add value with a mixed-use development.
The Tote needs to broaden its business model to remain relevant in the future.
Formerly known as the Ivanhoe Hotel, the venue was renamed The Tote in 1981, when previous publicans began hosting regular live music with a focus on new and local bands.
It has continued to operate as a live music venue for the past four decades, hosting countless Australian and international artists seven nights a week.
Jet, the Drones, Hoss, Spiderbait, You Am I, the Birthday Party, Courtney Barnett and Camp Cope are among Australian groups who have filled the venue’s band room, while international acts have included the White Stripes, Mudhoney and the Lemonheads.
Former publican Bruce Milne shut the doors in mid-January 2010 after new “high risk” conditions for Melbourne venues were introduced under Victoria’s liquor licensing laws. Milne said the cost of meeting new requirements, including additional security staff and CCTV, was not financially viable.
“I have simply run out of money,” Milne said at the time, after running the venue for nine years.
A month later a crowd of 20,000 live music fans, musicians and venue owners marched to state parliament for the SLAM (Save Live Australia’s Music) rally, to oppose laws that were crippling live music venues.
Six months after Milne shut The Tote’s doors, business partners Perring, Crupi and the late Andy Portokallis re-opened the venue. COVID-19 lockdowns again forced the venue to shut its doors in March, 2020, and soon afterwards Perring spoke about the difficulties facing venue operators.
During the early stages of Melbourne’s lockdown, The Tote’s owners were among other venue operators that started a GoFundMe campaign to help keep the venue operating.
The owners of The Tote have been contacted for comment.
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