By Simon O'Brien
Woolloongabba's historic Norman Hotel will officially rise from the ashes today eight weeks after a blaze which gutted the iconic pub and forced its closure.
The heritage-listed venue, on Ipswich Road, was undergoing extensive renovations whensparks from an angle grinder set the bottle shop alight, causing serious damage.
The famous Norman Hotel, back from near ruins.
The makeover was planned to celebrate the hotel's 120th birthday in October.
The pub's steakhouse reopened on Monday, but the new Norman's Bar, which had just commenced construction when the fire broke out, will serve drinks for the first time tomorrow, one month ahead of the venue's initially scheduled reopening.
"We thought we were better off promising too little and over delivering than the other way around," hotel general manager Michael Fallon told brisbanetimes.com.au.
"But we had guys working around the clock on this."
He said it was a relief to have the pub back in business after its two-month restoration.
"We're just doing what we do best,'' he said.
"It's great to have steaks on the barbecue again."
The hotel has invited a number of special guests to its rebirth, including patrons who were in the building when it caught fire, a construction worker who was burned, and the Annerley fire fighters who rushed to the site to battle the June 5 blaze.
More than 200 patrons and staff were forced to evacuate the venue when polystyrene pods caught fire in a rear part of the hotel, sending flames shooting 10 metres into the air.
Black smoke could be seen billowing from across the city.
The Norman Hotel was built in 1889 and is recognised as one of Brisbane's best-restored traditional hotels.
It calls itself "Brisbane's worst vegetarian restaurant" because of its popular steakhouse.