The race to find a temporary new home for the Crown & Anchor began on Sunday, when Premier Peter Malinauskas announced that the historic pub and live music venue had been “saved” from demolition by Singapore developer Wee Hur Holdings Ltd, which had planned to build a 19-storey student housing block on the site.

The Premier’s intervention led to an unprecedented deal that spares the pub while allowing for a 29-storey tower to be built next door, with the trade-off that the Cranker will have to shut for up to two years – with the maximum deadline legislated – to allow for construction, hotel renovations and soundproofing.

The shutdown is expected in the first half of next year but leaseholder Tom Skipper said the business and dozens of jobs could not survive being closed for two years, and he was working with the state government to find a temporary home.

Crown & Anchor supporters have suggested the vacant former Producers Hotel – next to Tandanya at the eastern end of Grenfell St and a popular live music venue in the 1980s and 90s – as a potential temporary venue.

The former Producers Hotel on Grenfell St. Photo: Dave Eccles/InDaily

The state heritage-listed pub is only 200 metres away from the Crown & Anchor and has stood empty since its last tenant, a nightclub, shut down.

But InDaily can reveal that work has just begun to repurpose the former pub into a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre.

It’s understood a long-term lease has been signed for use of the pub, built in 1906 and considered a “rare and intact example of a hotel in the Queen Anne style”.

In January this year, an application on behalf of the federal government was made to the State Commission Assessment Panel (SCAP) to change the site’s use to a “supported residential rehabilitation facility”.

Workers at the site have confirmed to InDaily that the pub is becoming a rehab centre.

Loss of the building as a potential Crown & Anchor relocation option will narrow the field for the state government, but there are other vacant CBD pubs to be considered.

The Edinburgh Castle at the western end of Currie Street is believed to be on the market, after a company which reopened it for the first time in years went into liquidation only two months later in February this year.

The Edinburgh Castle hotel on Currie Street. It shut down in 2018 after a student housing block was built behind it. Photo: Dave Eccles/ InDaily

The former live music venue shut down in 2018, with the operator blaming issues related to the building of a student accommodation tower directly behind the pub. That tower was built for Wee Hur Holdings Ltd, whose plans for the Crown & Anchor site prompted the Save The Cranker campaign and Premier’s intervention.

The Edinburgh Castle hotel is vacant. Photo: Dave Eccles/ InDaily

Another potential venue is the King’s Head on King William Street. The historic 1870s hotel and former live music venue was shut down and its rear demolished as part of plans for a 16-storey tower that developers said would open in December this year.

The Kings Head hotel was shut down for a tower development which has not gone ahead. Photo: Dave Eccles/ InDaily

But the project has stalled and the hotel sits empty and in decline – despite the developers saying they intended to keep the King’s Head operating as a live music venue and “reinvigorate” its social offering.

The Kings Head redevelopment was meant to reopen in December but no construction has taken place. Photo: Dave Eccles/ InDaily

Another option is the former Colonel Light Hotel, on Light Square, which has also previously hosted live music. It is currently for lease by Karidis Corporation – the Adelaide developer which previously owned the Crown & Anchor hotel but recently sold it to Wee Hur Holdings.

Photo: Dave Eccles/ InDaily

InDaily asked a spokesperson for Premier Peter Malinauskas about efforts to help the Crown & Anchor relocate and stay afloat during its shutdown.

“The State Government is committed to doing what it can to assist the leaseholder during the closure period,” they said.

“All options are on the table.”