Update: Newtown Social Club closed in April 2017. It is now called Holey Moley, a mini golf bar.
The best possible scenario following the closure of a famous rock pub like the Sandringham Hotel is that it gets reborn as another music venue. So it was with a collective sigh of relief that Newtown locals discovered that the Venue Collective, the group behind Melbourne institutions like the Corner Hotel and the Northcote Social Club, had taken over the space.
First they reopened the ground floor as a bare bones pub with a DIY interior. The band room upstairs opened next, and now they've taken another swing at the ground floor. In fact, they're calling it the Ground Floor at Newtown Social Club, and it's a lot jazzier than before.
The dining room out the back has a Nordic warehouse vibe thanks to the chipped brick, vertical gardens and sleek booths. They've spruced up the front bar and shoehorned a cocktail lounge under the stairs for an Old Fashioned in cosy surrounds.
The cheap-as-chips pizzas have been given the heave-ho in favour of a meatball menu featuring free range chicken, wagyu, Berkshire pork, New Zealand hoki or tofu and eggplant. A glass of wine with your dinner could involve an organic and biodynamic wine from the overhauled list, or you can drink local with Archie Rose gin.