Obtaining a piece of family history at Tarcowie was a dream for Mark Jefferson and his partner Angela Avina, who have refurbished the local pub with hopes to open to the public soon.
The pub was built in 1878 and, since privatisation, required the new owners to jump through hoops to reopen including meeting various building codes and laws.
"Because it was closed for more than two years, it kicks in the new laws - such as disabled and commercial laws," Ms Avina said.
"A lot of them can't be used here because of the structure of the building, so we've had to get some amnesties on certain areas of the pub."
But to bring it up to standard Mr Jefferson said they replaced the biggest part of the roof and had to wait a period of time before continuing to upgrade it.
"We bought the pub on November 1, 2020 - I always wanted to buy the pub," he said.
"It was reroofed in May of 2021 and the major works started in March 2023.
"It was full on with 12 hours a day, seven days a week because the 150th Tarcowie anniversary was coming up in October."
But the pub attracted former locals to attend with numbers reaching 220 people.
"This is where it all happened, people were baptised and wanted to look at the history of the places about town," Ms Avina said.
"They just wandered from here to the hall and back - at one stage the whole front verandah was full of people.
"But we got an event temporary liquor licence - which we actually didn't get the temporary certificate of occupancy until two days prior to the event."
Mr Jefferson recalled the Tarcowie pub's importance at the 125 year reunion where it was the same thing.
The pub now features a commercial kitchen, a front bar, a dining area and a pool table for entertaining as well as farming accessories now turned into statement pieces on the verandah.
The flooring in the dining room has a unique personality with paper cut outs, which were found under the old lino floor, now lacquered into the polished floors.
Mr Jefferson said his grandmother had the liquor licence in 1933 to 1938 while she leased the pub.
"My parents actually met here too because my mum was a librarian at the hall and my grandmother used to borrow books and dad would say 'I'll take them back for you' because he knew there was a young librarian at the hall - which was mum," he said.
"I was raised here and went to school over at Booleroo Centre and then went to Adelaide and did a trade in cabinet making and then got into trucks.
"I ran trucks for 25 years in Adelaide and my brother and nephews run a home farm at Tarcowie - Tarcowie has always been home.
"I'd stay out at the farm quite often - it was always a plan to come back to Tarcowie to live."
A work-life balance was of high importance to Mr Jefferson and Ms Avina, who would consider hiring casual staff during busy periods.
"There's three of us involved in it, myself and Mark, and our business partner Lardio Zavoral who lives on site," Ms Avina said.
"Having a pub takes over your life so then everyone gets the balance of work life - but we will play it by ear.
"We're off the beaten track so if you want to go out to somewhere quiet, where your kids can run around and you don't have to worry about them - you could come here.
"We expect it will be a place to attract people who work in jobs who can't mix with the community, who just want to go somewhere they won't be recognised, like judges, lawyers and police officers to let their hair down."
They also want to offer free off-road parking for caravans who are touring the area.
"We want to bring it to life on weekends and Tarcowie goes back to sleepy old Tarcowie on Monday morning, Friday night, bring it back to life again," Mr Jefferson said.
"We're going to put it back on the map without spoiling what is here."
This is part of Stock Journal's iconic pub series - stay tuned for more pub stories to come.
Kiara Stacey
Journalist for Stock Journal. Kiara was in classified sales at Stock Journal before joining the editorial team in 2021. Kiara completed a Bachelor of Communication (journalism) at Deakin University the year prior.
Journalist for Stock Journal. Kiara was in classified sales at Stock Journal before joining the editorial team in 2021. Kiara completed a Bachelor of Communication (journalism) at Deakin University the year prior.
