TIM Ireson comes from an extended family of publicans and the Ophir Tavern will represent his first stint as a hotel owner.
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Mr Ireson took the keys last week after the hotel was put on the market – he had been working in Sydney, but wanted to move his wife and two daughters to Orange for a better lifestyle.
“I’ve definitely hit the ground running,” he said.
The name of the tavern will change to the Ophir Hotel in line with Mr Ireson’s intention to make it a family-friendly venue.
He said the vision was “pretty much open slather” with play equipment, a beer garden and outdoor cabanas planned.
“There’s a lot of opportunities with it, it’s a big block,” he said.
“We’re hoping by the mid-point of the year, we would be firing.”
Mr Ireson said the business was seeking a chef to serve more traditional pub food.
Creative workwear
ALEXIS Withers graduated from university with a degree in science but being made redundant in late 2012 unlocked a passion for fashion and a completely different career direction.
“It was the week before Christmas and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get a job over summer because it’s a bad time so I thought until I could get a job, I’d do a course at TAFE,” she said.
“I decided to do a fashion course and I fell in love with it.”
Her clothing line, Alexis, Eclectic, was exhibited at Corner Store Gallery last month, collaborating with artist Grace Kingston.
“It’s influenced but working in fulltime office jobs – it’s really hard in your early 20s to be creative and fun and still be work appropriate so that comes through in my designs,” she said.
Miss Withers hoped to continue working on her range and enter into other collaborations.
Less hassle
THOSE undertaking home improvements at the moment will be familiar with the delays on securing tradespeople.
Since she and sales manager Martin Jacobs took over Ranbuild’s operations in March, operations manager Nicole Poll has found just the opposite.
“We have our own subcontractors so we don’t have those issues,” she said.
“We call it a turnkey solution because we take the job from the DA process right through to construction.”
Monthly advice
After a frustrating experience trying to buy a fridge recently, regional business leader Mathew Dickerson has advised businesses to offer choices and give advice, but not to try and make the final decision for a client.