A new hospitality group, running under the name Goodtime Hospitality, has officially set up in Sydney this week. The group is co-owned by entrepreneurs James Bodel and Locky Paech, who made their mark with the opening of their first venue and renovation in the inner west on Monday (November 2).

Formerly The White Cockatoo, the duo have reopened the Petersham favourite as the West Village, following three months under renovation. The venue has been completely gutted and transformed into what Bodel says encompasses a good, modern Australian pub.

“We’ve definitely taken that direction as far as the food and drinks go; while we’ve tried to be innovative where we can, we’re also keeping it simple – the way pub food and drinks should be”, Paech told drinks bulletin.



Paech is the previous General Manager/licensee of The Forresters and partnered with Bodel to start up Goodtime Hospitality half way through last year.

The two acquired The White Cockatoo a few months later in December, and now, following their first successful renovation, are planning on taking on another three to five venues in the next few years.

Under Goodtime Hospitality, Bodel and Paech will be taking a unique approach to their venues; one that will ensure each speaks to the local surroundings and customers.

“We take the approach that a venue should be run based on where it is and who the target market is. So we don’t tend to come up with a theme or really have an idea of what we want to do until we see the venue and feel there’s a need for something in that particular area”, Paech said.

“The West Village seemed to us to be a really community driven location. It hadn’t had anything done to it for 25 years, so we saw the opportunity to make it the vocal point of Petersham and another good addition to the inner west pub scene. That’s where the West Village name comes from; we want it to be a little village of its own.”

Both currently live in the eastern suburbs of Sydney – Bodel in Bondi and Paech in Surry Hills – and see opportunity to set up two or three of their future venues close to them or in the inner west again.

“We basically drew a circle around the city of about eight or nine kilometres and said that we’d love to explore any opportunity within that circle”, Paech said. “I’m originally from Adelaide and James travels a lot with his day time job, so we also definitely see the opportunity to one day go national too.”