The new name – The Yass Hotel – repositions the late-night hotel that was “the Royal” to locals as a bright, modern, female- and family-friendly venue with history.

Chris Cornforth and Fraser Haughton of Harvest Hospitality purchased the hotel in December 2018 and ran it as the Royal Hotel for three months before shutting it down for renovations. They say the change was necessary. it was not feasible for the venue to keep operating as it was.

One of its key features will be the food and wine menu, showcasing local producers. It’s also employing local people.

Yet some Yass residents don’t think the change will work, saying the hotel is losing its local touch and becoming too boutique.

One thing most Yass residents agree on is the need for more tourism in the valley to grow the local economy. So how do we do that? Are new offerings, some upmarket, not the way forward?

The boutique and award-winning Clementine restaurant has been regularly booked out since opening. Another case in point?

Yass Valley Council’s economic development and tourism manager Sean Haylan said food and drink was one of the valley’s three main tourist attractions, alongside nature and outdoors, heritage and art.

“If you look at Yass Valley, we’ve got quite an emerging and reasonably well-known food and wine scene, with very well profiled wineries and winemakers in the region,” he said. “This is well supported by great food establishments such as Grazing (Gundaroo), Poachers Pantry (Springrange), Olleyville at Shaw Vineyard Estate (Murrumbateman) and more recently Clementine. Those are further supported by boutique cellar doors, food experiences like Robyn Rowe Chocolates and fresh, local produce from markets in Yass and Murrumbateman.”

Haylan believes there is a place for boutique food and drink offerings in Yass Valley.

“You’ve only got to look at places like Mudgee, Southern Highlands and Orange that are reinventing themselves with food and wine offerings. Even Yass is evolving; look at Trader & Co and even further down our patch, The Sir George in Jugiong.

“People are flocking to plate to paddock experiences and I believe we should be capitalising on that.”