Quelle surprise:
A community consortium's bid to take over the Esplanade Hotel,
the famously grungy St Kilda band venue,
has been rejected, and the hotel's
owners are now looking for a commercial buyer. Which probably means it will
be cleaned up and renovated into a more upmarket venue (gotta capitalise on
those million-dollar views of the bay), where moneyed stockbrokers and football
identities can sip their chardonnay in style.