After lying dormant for two years, one of Orange’s much-loved historic pubs, The Lord Anson, has reopened and is bringing something fresh to the local dining scene.

New owners Ray, Kiran and Krishna officially opened their new hotel venture earlier this month with a bistro menu that combines pub favourites with flavours of the Mediterranean.

“I really loved this place; it has a great location and a lot of history here in Orange,” says Ray of the historic, two-storey hotel in Anson Street, just a stone’s throw away from Summer Street.

Ray, who is also the proprietor of popular North Orange cafe Eat Botanic, says he and his business partner were exploring further business opportunities in Orange and a prime location like this was hard to pass up.

“I feel Orange has a real pub culture,” says Ray. “I had never thought about being a publican, but when we saw this place, we were really interested and contacted the owner, and he knew me from Eat Botanic, and it went from there.”

Ray brings with him a decade of restaurant and hotel management experience to the new venture and says their focus is on making The Lord Anson a family-friendly ‘local’ with a fresh, flavourful menu that caters for everyone.

“What I have found is if you have good food and good service you will thrive,” says Ray.

“So what we are trying to do is introduce that human factor in hospitality. Make it a friendly, homely, a place where people are welcomed. We want people to think, ‘Let’s go to the Lord Anson!’”

Ray describes their extensive bistro menu as “modern takes on pub favourites with Mediterranean flair”.

You’ll find steaks, schnitzels and burgers alongside Italian meatballs, marinated chicken skewers and a range of pasta, pizza and salad options.

“Good quality fresh food, not just fried food; we want to have health-conscious options for people, as well as gluten-free or vegetarian,” says Ray.

The Lord Ason is also catering for people looking to eat outside of typical lunch or dinner hours, with the kitchen open from noon until 8pm, seven days a week.

“I think what Orange has been lacking is that all-day dining in a pub. This is a visitor town and people travel here from all over, but if they arrive at 2.30pm there are only fast food venues open,” he says

“So we stay open from midday until 8pm so people don’t have to rush from the office to have lunch; they can come at 3pm or come at 4.30 pm and have a light dinner.”

The Lord Anson also offers a select menu of budget-friendly lunch specials ranging from $18-$22. You’ll also

find daily dinner specials including a Tuesday Curry Night and Fishy Friday Feast.

“We’ll soon be doing weekly Trivia nights, so keep an eye out for that. Plus we have lots of live music entertainment,” adds Ray, who is

grateful that locals have embraced the reopening of the pub.

“It was a risk as this place has been closed for some time, but people have been really supportive and thanking us, so we are getting good vibes from the people of Orange