By Eleanor Wilson
Hundreds of locals flocked to revered Pakenham pub The Drake Tavern – affectionately known as Purvies – on Saturday 13 May, for its final weekend of trade.
The pub, which has been a Pakenham icon since it was opened by Daniel Bourke in 1880, is set to close after the last drinks call this Thursday 18 May.
There was not an empty table in the house as old friends congregated at the Main Street institution, where band Sorry Neighbours entertained crowds into the night.
Among those returning to the pub for a final send off were friends Stephen Raszkiewicz and Stephen Beetham, who have both been attending the local watering hole for three decades.
The last hurrah was made extra special for Mr Beetham, whose best mate Ian Mcleod flew up from Hobart to share in the final pints at Purvies.
“We used to drink together as mates back in England…we’ve been good friends for 40 years so I thought it would be good to come and surprise him for his last weekend at his local pub,” Mr Mcleod said.
Mr Beetham has been frequenting The Drake Tavern since he moved to Pakenham 30 years ago.
“You know you’d go from one pub to another but you’d always end up back here,” he said.
“You might not come in for a few weeks but then you’d be back.”
Mr Raszkiewicz has fond memories running the pub’s pool club on a Wednesday night with friends Stephen Ing, Jack Rootham, Jack Haye, Luke Ing and the publican’s son Anthony Cunningham.
“I started the club in probably 2006… it was a great source of enjoyment for us, to come down here and play pool,” Mr Raszkiewicz said.
The pair, who say they come down to Purvies almost every day, said they have “no idea” where they will go come Friday.
“We’ve lost a central meeting place…we come here after work and we share a few beers and talk crap, it’s just a bunch of people enjoying their twilight years,” Mr Beetham said.
“We genuinely don’t know where we’ll go, we haven’t decided. We’re kind of like ‘wow, what do we do now?’.
“If I won Tattslotto tomorrow night, I would buy it and I would run it until the day I died at a loss, just to make a country pub out of it again.”
The Drake Tavern’s last day of trade is Thursday 18 May, after which it is likely to be repurposed as a childcare centre or shopfronts.
