THEY might boast the biggest steaks this side of the Zambezi, but Tamworth’s Safari Club is facing a size issue of a different kind.
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The popular African-themed restaurant is shifting to bigger premises in March and will be making the move without its iconic Land Rover bar.
The bar – perched atop a restored, tiger-striped 1980s Land Rover – is on the market for $15,000, much to the regret of Safari Club owner Elliott Dube.
“I had a dream of building this bar and woke up one morning knowing I had to have it,” Mr Dube said. “I was driving out to Moonbi and I saw this abandoned Land Rover in a paddock and approached the owner, who gave it to me.
“It will be sad to see it go, but life has chapters and this is another one.”
The Dubes’ next chapter will see them move the restaurant to a larger, two-storey building in Brisbane St (near the Goodies).
They even plan to renovate two upstairs units into African safari lodge-style accommodation. And, of course, the famous Safari Club taxidermy decor will go with them.
The new premises will even have a function centre, Elliott’s wife, Justine Dube, said.
“We’ve been here five years and we’ve just outgrown it,” Mrs Dube said. “It’s a big step; the new restaurant will be almost double the size.”
It will be the third premises the restaurant has occupied, after starting out as Cafe Africa in the Imperial Hotel in 2004.