Actor Shane Jacobson reveals plans after buying country Vic pub

Actor Shane Jacobson has just embarged on what he reckons could be the real Great Australian Dream: owning a pub.

Shane Jacobson has bought a country pub in Victoria’s northeast.

“We’ve been told all our lives that the Great Australian Dream is to own your own home,” the popular movie, TV and stage actor told the Herald Sun.

“But to that I say, ‘Frog shit.’ Every bloke I’ve ever spoken to says they want to own a pub. I’m about to find out if I’ve bought the Great Australian Dream, or a nightmare.”

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Jacobson, his producer-director mate Dean Murphy, and a group of investors have bought the Dederang Hotel, known affectionately to locals as The Ranga, on the Kiewa Valley Highway between Wodonga and Bright. Settlement is expected within the week.

Jacobson said the pub purchase was Murphy’s idea.

“He comes from a dairy farming family in the Kiewa Valley. Dean doesn’t even drink. But that pub has been in and around Dean and his family, and the surrounding farming community, his whole life.”

The Dederang Hotel at 4326 Kiewa Valley Highway, Dederang, is about to become a part of Shane Jacobson’s future.

Director Dean Murphy at the opening night of MIDNIGHT The Cinderella Musical. Picture: Tony Gough.

Jacobson added: “That pub is so loved. We have to make sure we don’t ruin the locals’ pub. I’ve seen passion for football clubs, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the love the locals have for The Ranga.”

The Kenny, Charlie and Boots and Hairspray The Musical star lives in the Macedon Ranges, but will happily make the three-hour drive to Dederang to pull beers behind the bar.

He laughed: “I’ll pull a couple of beers, but I bet I drink all the beers I pull.”

The classic Aussie pub is all set for Jacobson and his friends to take over in the coming days.

The pub has become a bit of a local institution since the current owner took it on 37 years ago.

The pub had been advertised via McDonald Hospitality Brokers managing director Dan McDonald with a $1.365m asking price.

Settlement for the sale had been expected this week, but was delayed as a State Revenue Office query over how their purchase price will be apportioned between the pub’s bricks and mortar and the business.

“It’s not unusual at all for the Revenue Office to do a complex assessment of a sale like this,” Mr McDonald said.

The pub is located in a scenic part of Victoria between Bright and Albury-Wodonga.

A dining area is also among the pub’s features.

Describing it as a “terrific pub” that was an institution for the region where the preferred tipple was usually a Carlton Draught, the hotel broker said it had been run by the current owner for the past 37 years.

“Like all vendors, they had an emotional attachment – but they are rapt with who it’s being handed to,” Mr McDonald said.

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