reinventing a special highway town

1920 1080 In Good Company | Northern Rivers
rod n reel woodburn northern rivers

Rod n Reel Hotel

99/103 River St, Woodburn

www.rodnreel.com.au

Visit Richmond Valley Northern Rivers-01
reinventing a special highway town

Woodburn NSW is a charming riverside town with which is about to embark on a transformation.  When the Pacific Highway bypass is completed, it will bring peace to the riverside community. It will also bring challenges for the existing businesses, and opportunity for motivated and creative business owners to recreate their brand.  To shift focus of trade from the short term ‘takeaway’, to entice the long term ‘come and stay’.

“It really is going to take the entire town to change the way it’s doing business,” says Daniel Simpson, manager of the Rod N Reel Hotel Motel in the centre of Woodburn. “The town is set up for takeaway, people grab something and keep going. There needs to be a revitalisation.”

Daniel is one of the businesses taking a proactive stance. Currently studying an MBA, the 38-year-old has worked in hospitality for 20 years and also runs the Hotel Illawong in Evans Head. He wants to see Woodburn businesses working together towards life after the bypass.

“It really is going to take the entire town to change the way it’s doing business”

The Rod N Reel is a well-known lunch spot for drivers. With a bistro, bar, gaming area, accommodation and new play area, the complex is popular with families and is a gathering place for locals in the evening. On a Friday night, the bistro will serve about 150 meals while 15 staff work at the pub.

For the last 18 months, Daniel has overseen extensive renovations which will convert the venue from a pit-stop to a destination in itself.

“For us it’s about providing the right environment and making sure we have a really good product and service,” he says, positive about the pub’s “great future”.

The Rod n Reel Hotel has a long tradition of rising to the challenge.  In 1954 the Hotel was destroyed by a cyclone, then rebuilt in 1956.

One of the region’s best assets – and something that will help weather the changes ahead – is its close community, Daniel believes.

“People look out for each other, you know everybody in the town. I think a lot of the community is looking forward to the bypass when there’s not 3000 b-doubles driving through the town every day,” he says, adding that the healthy work-life balance has boosted the area’s attraction.

“Ten minutes to the beach, right on the river – Woodburn’s going to be a great place to live.”

Share this story

Read more stories

A community cornerstone bouncing forward

 2048 1260 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Coraki Post Office
For all that has been thrown at the small town of Coraki in recent times, the owners of the town’s post office are rolling with the punches.

It was time the level the paying field

 1500 562 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Zepto
What do you do next after more than a decade building up a Byron Bay skydiving business to become a national success and then stepping back after listing it on the Australian Stock Exchange?

Passion, patience and protein

 2400 1350 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Hemp Foods Australia
When Hemp Foods Australia founder, Paul Benhaim, discovered hemp as a food choice in the early 90s during his global travels, he had his own preconceived ideas.

A fighting spirit … and great networks

 768 1024 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Five Sixty Farms
Stranded on the roof of his house with his wife and their eight children, Pepe Fassos watched helplessly as his beloved greenhouses smashed and floated away in a tsunami of floodwater.

biggy pop sings support for matilda

 2048 2560 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital
In 2020, Iggy Pop received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys; in the same year his pet cockatoo, named Biggy Pop, became the founding patron of Byron Wildlife Hospital…

glass lab tweed heads 002

riding the wave of success

 1000 661 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

The Glass Lab
Adam Wessel may have worked in surfboard factories since the age of 16, but it was a stint in the luxury yachting industry that sowed the…

cooperative success, sweet for 150 years

 1000 627 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Sunshine Sugar
The Northern Rivers is home to generations of cane farming families who have not only built the sugar industry, but also saved the local…

all the best fine foods casino 001

our kitchen rules in the heart of beef country

 1000 664 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

All The Best Fine Foods
From little things big thing grow, goes the saying, and Casino-based business All The Best Fine Foods is certainly proof that humble….

growing community, growing business

 1600 1066 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

The Farm
It’s a typical Saturday morning at The Farm, on the outskirts of Byron Bay. Families line up for freshly made pastry and coffee. Every table in the…

From cobblestones to all-terrain cranes

 1200 900 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Wicks and Parker
Fast approaching 100 years old, the Wicks family business has helped build motorways and carry out emergency bushfire repairs, but it once hammered out steel bands for horse-drawn carriage wheels.

From trauma to business transformation

 1620 1080 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Our Cow
For Casino-based meat providers Our Cow, the last three years have seen remarkable, game-changing growth.

gateway finefoods kyogle

local, seasonal, transformative gem hits town

 960 639 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Gateway Fine Foods and Catering
Debbie McQueen has three words of advice for anyone starting a business in Kyogle: flexibility, perseverance and patience. They’re three traits Debbie…

Aurora Suspended Fires_Ballina in good company image 4

all fired up for global attention

 960 600 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Aurora Suspended Fires
Aurora Suspended Fires arose from the perfect marriage of Chloe Allan’s creative talents with Neil’s engineering background. But building a successful…

Heart and Soul of a region

 1500 2250 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Norco Co-operative
Norco has an impressive origin story.

Cool to be kind and cans it

 957 1277 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

The Kind Coffee Co.
The KIND Coffee Co, reflects its name in everything it does.

an epic adventure into healing honey

 1191 893 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Gather By
Gather By is a closed-loop regenerative agribusiness that works with beekeepers and landholders in NSW and Queensland, and investors around Australia to produce and market rare, pure and potent Australian Manuka honey…

cape byron distellery 002

spirit of the rainforest

 960 540 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Cape Byron Distillery
Let’s forget the beaches for a moment, as the true lifeblood of the Northern Rivers landscape is surely its rainforests, some of the most botanically…

Brothers spirit and legacy lives on

 1920 2560 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

J. Notaras & Sons
J. Notaras & Sons owes its existence, strong identity and ongoing success to the dreams of two brothers of Greek ancestry.

Delivering top service, come hospital or high water

 870 652 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

McLeans Freight Service
When Leisa Blok’s father, Laurie McLean, began running urgent nighttime blood deliveries from Lismore airport in 1992, he mightn’t have expected the one-man gig to expand into a 50-vehicle courier fleet, delivering across the entire northern NSW region.

Alternative. Accessible. Affordable.

 2560 2553 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Nimbin Apothecary
Nimbin Apothecary is a herbal medicine dispensary providing acute over-the-counter consulting for herbal medicine prescriptions.

Start Typing

X