New plans submitted for controversial Hills hotel
New plans have been lodged for Mount Barker’s first pub to be built in more than 160 years, after the development received a landmark court judgement.
Heysen Hotel Freehold has submitted revised plans to the Mount Barker District Council to build a new hotel, more than a year after a court judgment was handed down over the development.
The new three-storey Heysen Hotel will span 3801 square metres and include a bottleshop, a gaming room with 40 poker machines, a bistro accommodating 200 people, and a lounge and sports bar. It will also include an outdoor dining and lounge area and function rooms.
Located on Heysen Boulevard, the $30 million project would require the removal of native vegetation and six regulated trees, including two significant Tasmanian Blue Gums and a significant Spotted Gum.
It would also require demolishing a house on the site.
The hotel would be operated by Piermount, with executive chairman Brett Matthews saying “the elevation of the hotel will be a highlight of the venue where patrons can enjoy the balcony with unsurpassed views of the undulating Adelaide Hills, the Mount Barker Summit and the twinkling lights of Mount Barker”.
You might like
“We’re all about showcasing local, and we truly embrace the Adelaide Hills. This new venue plans to employ over 150 people and many of those will be locals,” Matthews said.
A development application to build a hotel on the site was approved in September 2022; however, the latest plans were lodged again due to a change in the hotel site’s boundaries.
The development previously faced the Licensing Court of South Australia in Heysen Hotel (SA) Pty Ltd v Fassina Investments Pty Ltd – a landmark case because it was the first in the state to use a community interest test relating to a gaming license.
According to the judgment handed down in Febuary 2025, Fassina introduced expert evidence establishing a “clear association” between problem gaming and the use of gaming machines, saying people using gaming machines after midnight were more likely to be problem gamblers.
Stay informed, daily
Fassina’s lawyers argued that it was “not in the community interest” to grant the liquor and gaming licences due to numerous hotels and bottleshops in the vicinity and that the addition of more gaming machines “will inevitably cause gambling-related harm in a locality whose residents can be expected to be experiencing mortgage stress”.
Their case argued the development could not proceed because it had not obtained necessary planning approvals, claiming that the pub’s common boundary with nearby shops meant it was part of the same complex and a gaming licence could not be granted under the law.
Heysen Hotel argued the development would “only be viable” if it could have a gaming room with 40 machines.
Judge Brian Gilchrist* found the required approvals had been granted, rejected the argument that its common boundary with nearby shops made it part of the same complex and found that its Liquor Guidelines requirements had been met.
While finding the new development was in the community interest, Judge Gilchrist imposed conditions on the gaming licence, requiring the Heysen Hotel to stop gaming at midnight from Sundays to Thursdays unless it was before a public holiday.
“The hotel will meet the desire of many in the locality of having access to a large modern hotel offering a full suite of services in an area of Mount Barker that is for now bereft of this type of infrastructure,” he said, adding that “it will add to the attractiveness of Mount Barker as a tourist destination and will generate jobs for some of those living in the locality”.
The development application is currently open for public consultation until October 20.
* Charlie Gilchrist is the son of Judge Brian Gilchrist. The article relied solely on publicly available documents.
Want to see more stories from InDaily SA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily SA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily SA". That's it.
