{"id":762184,"date":"2026-06-26T19:27:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T19:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762184\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T19:27:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T19:27:22","slug":"hotel-terminus-opens-in-south-brisbane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762184\/","title":{"rendered":"Hotel Terminus opens in South Brisbane"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ghanem Group have delivered a brilliantly pitched three-in-one \u2014 a gastropub, rooftop bar and cocktail bar that\u2019s ready to create a whole new set of memories for locals.<\/p>\n

\"MattSave<\/p>\n

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AAA<\/p>\n

Everyone Nehme Ghanem talks to has a Fox Hotel story.<\/p>\n

\u201cA Fox story, a Terminus story,\u201d Ghanem says. \u201cJust everyone. Even the boomers coming through who used to frequent this pub \u2212 they\u2019re often locals from West End. There\u2019s so much historic value. Everyone has a story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ghanem\u2019s the same. He talks about watching Origin games and revelling on the rooftop in its Rohan Topley-owned days.<\/p>\n

\"Finally,Finally, the old Fox Hotel has reopened under its orignal Hotel Terminus moniker.Markus Ravik<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019d come to me 20 years ago and said one day you\u2019re gonna own this business, I\u2019d go, \u2018That would be an absolute dream.\u2019 So it is an honour to be able to be where we are with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where Ghanem is with Fox Hotel is reopening it under its original Hotel Terminus moniker. All of it \u2013 the pub and bistro downstairs, the rooftop, a new cocktail bar called Vixen Room \u2013 in one fell swoop. Ghanem Group, of which Ghanem is a co-director, relaunched the four-storey venue in mid-June.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"San<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s an enormous project \u2013 by some margin Ghanem Group\u2019s largest yet, with a lot of expectations and a lot of heritage considerations for a 99-year-old building that\u2019s been shuttered since the 2022 floods. Which makes you wonder, how do you even start?<\/p>\n

\u201cThese heritage buildings are such beautiful buildings. A lot of the time when they\u2019ve been run down and not looked after, it almost obscures the value in restoring them,\u201d Ghanem says. \u201cBut the venue downstairs, for example, was just [about] restoring the original bar. It turned out to look fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GhanemGhanem Group have performed a handsome revitalisation of the downstairs public bar.Markus Ravik<\/p>\n

Ghanem\u2019s not wrong. The group\u2019s preferred designers Space Cubed have delivered a ground-floor gastropub and public bar that captures the overall venue\u2019s sense of history. There are the handsome frosted pendant lights, the terrazzo floors, the coffered ceilings with their ornate cornices. The one nod to modernity is the stainless steel bar itself \u2013 20 years ago it would\u2019ve been a cliche but in this setting it\u2019s a neat offset.<\/p>\n

Upstairs, the Vixen Room is a plush contrast, decked out in deep red carpet and velvet banquettes, the lights kept low to suit its late-night, cocktail-driven vibe.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe hotel’s central atrium is similar to how many punters will remember it.Markus Ravik<\/p>\n

Then, upstairs again, is Fox Rooftop, which is the open-air spot you remember but given a grown-up going over. It still has the killer views, but two bars instead of one, a relatively moody fit-out featuring plenty of tiles and mirrored ceilings, and furniture much more comfortable than it has any need to be.<\/p>\n

It makes for a great clutch of venues \u2013 different enough they could each exist on their own, but that nevertheless complement each other, meaning it\u2019s easy to slip from one to the next \u2013 or indeed out to the surrounding Fish Lane restaurants and bars that for so long have been hanging on its reopening.<\/p>\n

\"HotelHotel Terminus is being pitched as a gastropub on account of its menu of elevated pub food.Markus Ravik<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only been the last six or seven years that Fish Lane has been something,\u201d Ghanem says. \u201cAnd we needed to help further activate it. This was once just the back end of Melbourne Street but now it\u2019s the other way round \u2013 it\u2019s a vibrant precinct. So we needed an entrance out there \u2013 to turn the back of the pub into the face of the pub.\u201d<\/p>\n

For drinks, Hotel Terminus on the ground floor is built around its 16 beer taps with a mix of craft and big box brews; a clutch of easy, breezy signature cocktails; and a tight, crowd-pleasing wine list.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe downstairs menu spruces up a bunch of pub classics.Markus Ravik<\/p>\n

The rooftop has a similar number of wines by the bottle but with a more international focus, with a bunch of elevated by-the-glass options available via Coravin. The beers keep it tighter and more craft-oriented, there\u2019s a slightly more considered cocktail list and there are also lengthy lists of tequila and mezcal, rum and whisky.<\/p>\n

The Vixen Room, as you might expect, is well and truly about cocktails, but also includes aperitifs, digestifs and drills down in more detail on its whiskies. The wine selection here is tightly curated, and has a slightly funkier focus to match with the mixed drinks.<\/p>\n

\"SmokedSmoked salmon nicoise salad.Markus Ravik<\/p>\n

Food across the venues is again being overseen by group executive chef Jake Nicolson, but this time in partnership with Lyndon Tyers, who is best known for his work at Donna Chang.<\/p>\n

\u201cLyndon\u2019s been with us for so long and is a bit of a quiet achiever with the group,\u201d Ghanem says. \u201cBut he\u2019s such a talent and I think with Donna Chang shown people what he\u2019s capable of.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe rooftop still has its killer views, but has received a very grown-up makeover.Markus Ravik<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a super refined menu like you might find at Donna Chang, but it\u2019s not meant to be. It\u2019s very approachable but classy and hearty, and affordable across the Terminus and Fox menus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terminus does most of the heavy lifting with a menu of pub classics made just that little bit upmarket: think tandoori chicken pies, smoked salmon nicoise salads, smoked beef and maple sausages (with grain mustard mash of course), Scenic Rim Black Angus smash burgers, and a handful of steaks (no, none of them are $2).<\/p>\n

\"TheThe rooftop features a secondary bar for when things get buzzy.Markus Ravik<\/p>\n

On the roof, it\u2019s more about share plates \u2013 spanner crab udon, kingfish crudo, Ora King salmon hand rolls, that sort of thing \u2013 while Vixen peddles a short menu of snacks.<\/p>\n

It would be easy for the Ghanems to either under or overcook these three venues, but on first impression it feels like they\u2019ve nailed the brief. That checks out, though: this is a group that\u2019s at its best when it\u2019s at its most democratic \u2013 it has a happy habit of making the approachable elevated, and the elevated approachable.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe upstairs menu focues more on share plates and snacks.Markus Ravik<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does feel like the kind of project we could make the most of,\u201d Ghanem says. \u201cThere are some great pubs around but we feel we can deliver that elevation that people are expecting but be affordable and approachable at the same time \u2013 getting the best of both worlds without compromising on quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hotel Terminus open daily 10am-late<\/p>\n

Vixen Room open Thu-Sat 4pm-late<\/p>\n

Fox Rooftop open Tue-Wed 4pm-late, Thu-Sun 12pm-late<\/p>\n

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\"MattMatt Shea<\/a> is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ghanem Group have delivered a brilliantly pitched three-in-one \u2014 a gastropub, rooftop bar and cocktail bar that\u2019s ready…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-762184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}