With the Hope Estate machine behind him, he and his family are well placed to make a success of their latest venture, a licensed entertainment venue at "The Wharf", as the Hunter and Central Coast Development Corporation has rebranded the Lee Wharf A building, home to the Newcastle Maritime Museum for a decade until May 2018.

From any angle, the museum saga was a regrettable slice of Novocastrian history.

From the time the collection was split away from its original home at Fort Scratchley, the museum struggled to raise funds and existed on the smell of an oily rag.

It will not go unnoticed that the museum was never able to obtain funding to recreate the wharf that originally stood in front of the building, yet the development corporation has included one in the $4.7 million it has spent getting the former goods warehouse ready for its new incarnation.

Late last year, when the call for tenders went out, the union group Hunter Workers said The Wharf should have a community use rather than being leased to the highest bidder.

Time will tell whether the corporation will face the "level of push-back" that Hunter Workers secretary Daniel Wallace threatened "if they are not putting something back into the community", but it's fair to say that the addition of another licensed venue in the CBD may not receive universal acclamation.

That said, it is in the heart of Honeysuckle's entertainment precinct, and its promise of "Wine Country by the water" appears to answer the development corporation's call for a drawcard destination to complement the surrounding attractions.

In the short term, at least, COVID-19 has thrown the hospitality industry into disarray, but the security of a 50-year-lease on The Wharf allows the Hope family to plan for the years ahead.

At the same time, a maritime museum for a waterfront city with Newcastle's history cannot be left in the too-hard basket.

Here's hoping (pun unavoidable) that The Wharf is a roaring success.

And let's hope that previously warring parties can work together to put the maritime collection back before the public.

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