Ghanem Group have delivered a brilliantly pitched three-in-one — a gastropub, rooftop bar and cocktail bar that’s ready to create a whole new set of memories of locals.June 26, 2026Everyone Nehme Ghanem talks to has a Fox Hotel story.“A Fox story, a Terminus story,” Ghanem says. “Just everyone. Even the boomers coming through who used to frequent this pub − they’re often locals from West End. There’s so much historic value. Everyone has a story.”Ghanem’s the same. He talks about watching Origin games and revelling on the rooftop in its Rohan Topley-owned days.Finally, the old Fox Hotel has reopened under its orignal Hotel Terminus moniker.Markus Ravik“If you’d come to me 20 years ago and said one day you’re gonna own this business, I’d go, ‘That would be an absolute dream.’ So it is an honour to be able to be where we are with it.”Where Ghanem is with Fox Hotel is reopening it under its original Hotel Terminus moniker. All of it – the pub and bistro downstairs, the rooftop, a new cocktail bar called Vixen Room – in one fell swoop. Ghanem Group, of which Ghanem is a co-director, relaunched the four-storey venue in mid-June.Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.Sign upIt’s an enormous project – by some margin Ghanem Group’s largest yet, with a lot of expectations and a lot of heritage considerations for a 99-year-old building that’s been shuttered since the 2022 floods. Which makes you wonder, how do you even start?“These heritage buildings are such beautiful buildings. A lot of the time when they’ve been run down and not looked after, it almost obscures the value in restoring them,” Ghanem says. “But the venue downstairs, for example, was just [about] restoring the original bar. It turned out to look fantastic.”Ghanem Group have performed a handsome revitalisation of the downstairs public bar.Markus RavikGhanem’s not wrong. The group’s preferred designers Space Cubed have delivered a ground-floor gastropub and public bar that captures the overall venue’s 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 – 20 years ago it would’ve been a cliche but in this setting it’s a neat offset.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.The hotel's central atrium is similar to how many punters will remember it.Markus RavikThen, 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.It makes for a great clutch of venues – different enough they could each exist on their own, but that nevertheless complement each other, meaning it’s easy to slip from one to the next – or indeed out to the surrounding Fish Lane restaurants and bars that for so long have been hanging on its reopening.Hotel Terminus is being pitched as a gastropub on account of its menu of elevated pub food.Markus Ravik“It’s only been the last six or seven years that Fish Lane has been something,” Ghanem says. “And we needed to help further activate it. This was once just the back end of Melbourne Street but now it’s the other way round – it’s a vibrant precinct. So we needed an entrance out there – to turn the back of the pub into the face of the pub.”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.The downstairs menu spruces up a bunch of pub classics.Markus RavikThe 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’s a slightly more considered cocktail list and there are also lengthy lists of tequila and mezcal, rum and whisky.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.Smoked salmon nicoise salad.Markus RavikFood 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.“Lyndon’s been with us for so long and is a bit of a quiet achiever with the group,” Ghanem says. “But he’s such a talent and I think with Donna Chang shown people what he’s capable of.The rooftop still has its killer views, but has received a very grown-up makeover.Markus Ravik“It’s not a super refined menu like you might find at Donna Chang, but it’s not meant to be. It’s very approachable but classy and hearty, and affordable across the Terminus and Fox menus.”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).The rooftop features a secondary bar for when things get buzzy.Markus RavikOn the roof, it’s more about share plates – spanner crab udon, kingfish crudo, Ora King salmon hand rolls, that sort of thing – while Vixen peddles a short menu of snacks.It would be easy for the Ghanems to either under or overcook these three venues, but on first impression it feels like they’ve nailed the brief. That checks out, though: this is a group that’s at its best when it’s at its most democratic – it has a happy habit of making the approachable elevated, and the elevated approachable.The upstairs menu focues more on share plates and snacks.Markus Ravik“It does feel like the kind of project we could make the most of,” Ghanem says. “There 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 – getting the best of both worlds without compromising on quality.”Hotel Terminus open daily 10am-lateVixen Room open Thu-Sat 4pm-lateFox Rooftop open Tue-Wed 4pm-late, Thu-Sun 12pm-lateFrom our partners