CHRIS THOMSON

Mt Lawley’s swank Malt Supper Club – co-owned by former Fremantle Docker Peter Bell – may yet agree to renovate its blank, green facade to the satisfaction of the local council that believes it is an eyesore.

In November last year, City of Stirling councillors unanimously snatched back an olive branch offered to Bell and his partners by the council’s planners.

Back then, oneperth.com.au revealed that secret discussions between the planners and Malt had led to a handshake deal that the club instal openable windows to Beaufort Street to improve its appearance.

However, the city’s councillors refused to approve the deal, which sent the matter back to the State Administrative Tribunal where it had already languished for some months.

The planners had initially urged legal action against law graduate Bell and his colleagues over what the city saw as a failure to develop Malt in line with its 2010 planning approval.

The planners had believed the facade of the club detracted from the ambience of upmarket Beaufort Street.

Now, the tribunal has booted the matter back to the city. Bell has agreed to instal a different set of openable windows, and the planners have again recommended the compromise be approved.

The matter will be debated – yet again – by the city’s planning committee on Monday night.

The inside of Malt Supper Club is bedecked with chandeliers and plush wallpaper.

The venue became a favoured haunt of social climbers after it was allowed to open in November 2010 after another tortuous planning wrangle with the city.

Bell and his partners reportedly lost hundreds of thousands of dollars due to the delay in the bar’s opening.