Vanessa Cavasinni, editor Australian Hotelier

Developers sparked outrage over the weekend after demolishing the Corkman Irish Pub, a 140-year-old pub in Carlton, without Council approval.

Developers Stefce Kutlesovski, founder of Makland Group, which develops apartment complexes; and Raman Shaqiri, who owns a demolition and excavation business, purchased the Corkman Irish Pub in 2014 for $4.6 million, with the previous owners taking over The Last Jar, an Irish pub one block away.

The developers closed the pub upon purchasing it, but no development application has been made to demolish the building, let alone permission given. A fortnight ago the building had been partly damaged in a fire, but on Saturday 15 October, a demolition crew began to raze the building. A stop-work order was issued by Melbourne City Council after complaints were made by neighbours, however the demolition was completed on Sunday in violation of the order.

The actions have been decried by many groups in Melbourne, from the Lord Mayor Robert Doyle to Melbourne Heritage Action, and Melbourne University student groups who frequented the nearby pub when it was open.

Read more here.

This story was first published in The Shout.