AFTER seven years, Warracknabeal's Palace Hotel will reopen its doors to patrons.
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Des and Jenny Taylor bought the hotel last month and expect to reopen it by the end of the year.
The renovated hotel can host up to 160 people.
The renovations will include transforming the existing Bottlemart Express drive-through into a beer garden.
Mr Taylor said the renovations were a work in progress.
He said he hoped to retain the architectural elements of the building, which will include restoring the hotel's brick wall to its days of grandeur.
"It will be brought back to the original hotel, I have a great love of history for this hotel," he said.
To preserve the historical essence, the hotel will also keep the food menu intact, as it was seven years ago.
Mr Taylor said revamping the kitchen area and the front-bar were his primary focus areas. He said the plans of installing new shutter windows for the front bar area were in progress.
Mr Taylor said his nephew Matthew Joblin, would assist him in running the hotel.
"Our family has been chipping and helping us with the hotel works," he said.
Mr Taylor said once the kitchen and bar renovations were complete, their attention would turn to the upstairs accommodation rooms.
Mr and Mrs Taylor previously lived in Warracknabeal and have lived in different cities before they decided to return to the region.
"We both come from Warracknabeal, born and bred here and, decided to come back home," Mr Taylor said.
Mr Taylor worked in Adelaide, Ballarat, Melbourne and Horsham before moving back to Warracknabeal.
"I had a fruit and vegetable business in Horsham and worked as truck driver for few years," he said.
Mr Taylor is also a veteran, who served in Vietnam for few years.
Mr and Mrs Taylor are planning to host a grand reopening when the time came to reopen the hotel to patrons.
"We will celebrate the day with a whole lot of music and have a good time," he said.
Jenny Taylor said she was "very excited" to take up this new venture.
"We are looking forward to it although the place has been in such a mess. There's a lot of tidying up to do," she said.
Mrs Taylor said it would be another two months until the hotel would look to hire employees.
"Things are going slowly but surely," she said.
First established in 1895, the new owners hoped to continue contributing to the town's history.
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