The anchor tenancy on the One Subiaco complex will be filled by Miles Hull — the hospitality king behind Fremantle’s highly successful Little Creatures venue.

Mr Hull will create a European-style bar and restaurant. He is planning a modern, contemporary bistro with a capacity for about 350 people in the $280 million apartment complex on the site of the former Pavilion markets.

The 490sqm bar and restaurant, and its 200sqm al fresco area, will be one of six food and beverage tenancies in the complex. It will include a further six retail tenancies, including a grocer.

Mr Hull’s fit-out of the venue, due to open in October 2022, will have 4m-high ceilings and will cost about $2 million.

“It will be a classical European-style bistro that is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, where you can go in for a coffee, or a long lunch, or drinks with friends after work, or a late dinner,” he said.

“You can take business colleagues there, or you can take a date there, or your family there, and feel comfortable.”

Mr Hull said the venue will draw inspiration from a bar called Cumulus Inc in Melbourne, and Subiaco’s former Oriel restaurant, which operated as a round-the-clock venue until 2006.

“The venue will be very much a European-style bistro. It is the essence of what the Oriel was … with fantastic wine and food.”

Mr Hull, who was also part of the teams behind Northbridge’s Alex Hotel as well as the Quarter Acre hotel in Applecross, said a tavern licence would ensure customers would not have to buy a meal if they wanted to pop in for a wine or beer.

Mr Hull conceded Subiaco had not yet returned to its glory years.

Once one of the more popular night spots in Perth, Subiaco fell in popularity when the AFL moved to Optus Stadium.

The main shopping drag on Rokeby Road has about 30 vacancies, including several vacant spaces traditionally used as hospitality venues.

“I’ll be honest, if this was opening tomorrow I probably was not as keen to come into this building as I will be in two years time,” Mr Hull said.

The upcoming investment raises the question of whether the inner-city town is big enough for both Mr Hull’s venue and the 123-year-old Subiaco Hotel?

The Subiaco Hotel, which is being renovated, has traditionally been the heart of the area’s hospitality scene.

It was once so popular it cheekily advertised itself as being “the hotel they named a suburb after”.

As part of the hotel’s renovation, the new owners, Dave Allan and Lawson Douglas, are adding mezzanine decks in former courtyards, relocating the bathrooms to ground floor and renovating the saloon and sports bar, and adding 10 screens, among other changes.

It is set to open before Christmas.

Mr Hull said he was delighted with his competitors’ renovations, saying it would help revitalise the area.

“I believe the best place to open a light shop is next to another light shop,” he said.

“I think we can’t survive on one place alone in Subiaco.”

Mr Hull was also impressed with the quality of other hospitality venues in the area, including the Dilly Dally restaurant — which was owned by the same team behind Lala Rookh in the city — at the old Witch’s Cauldron site, as well as the Boardroom bar over the road.

Developer Paul Blackburne agreed multiple venues were needed to help maximise the area’s potential, saying the absence of choice had hurt Subiaco a decade ago.

“People want to have choice and different experiences, so one plus one equals three,” he said.

“The more the better — it will get a life of its own.”

Metier chief executive Darryll Ashworth said the OneSubiaco site offered a strong location that was accessible and visible and which enjoyed a big catchment area.

Rents range from $450sqm to $750sqm.