The iconic venue, made famous after the town's export and Geelong Cats centreman Paul Couch won the Brownlow in 1989, was forced to shut its doors on March 23 after coronavirus restrictions came into play.

Owners Trevor and Pam Payne are thrilled to open the doors again and received a warm welcome from locals on Thursday night.

"We've had this pub for 23 years," Mrs Payne said. "It's mainly just Trevor and I who run it; he's the barman and I'm the cook.

"When this pandemic happened, it was the unknown and for a long time we did not know what was going on.

"March was the first time we shut in 23 years. We went from working seven days a week to nothing, it was adjustment and it is again to get back into it now too.

"We stood in the bar yesterday and we said it doesn't feel like we've been away for eight months. We'll slowly work to get back into it."

Throughout the past eight months, the Paynes have taken to their garden to fill in the extra hours the pandemic gave them while the pub sat idle.

"We couldn't really do anything like most people," Mrs Payne said. "We sort of just got into the garden and I was going into Warrnambool on a Saturday for shops and that was it."

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To begin with, the Boggy Creek Pub will be open for Friday and Saturday nights drinks and meals and when the holiday season kicks in, the Payne's will increase their hours.

The unique pub relies on the support of Curdievale residents and surrounding communities, plenty of whom returned on opening night to quench their thirst.

"I think we're open much to the local's joy, they were happy to see us again." Mrs Payne said. "Even the suppliers are saying welcome back.

"We couldn't open any earlier because density limits meant we could only have four people in the pub. That made things extremely hard and it just wasn't viable. I think we're about the only pub that's left to opened."

Mrs Payne said she is looking forward to the summer season and seeing familiar faces.

"Our weekends are always pretty much booked during the holidays," she said. "We rely on locals to keep us busy but we do get some holidaymakers.

"I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone."

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