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Why does this pub have to be ripped down?

Developer Gary Busuttil is standing in front of Port Melbourne’s 147-year-old London Hotel looking a little irritated at the question.

It’s clear the owner of the much-loved pub isn’t keen to respond. The answer is fairly obvious: money.

The London Hotel under demolition on Sunday.

For three weeks, a demolition team has been pulling down The London - where literally millions of glasses of beer have been downed.

Its roof is long gone, and last week the first level disappeared.

In a few weeks, there will be bare earth where a hotel stood since 1870.

Bussutil paid $4 million for the pub, and plans to build 18 apartments. He's promising a restaurant and function centre to replace The London, with parking underneath it.

He could have kept the facade, but “economics” dictated otherwise, he and his team say.

Slide image to see a before and after comparison of The London Hotel site, Port Melbourne.

After we meet, Bussutil emails me, to say he hopes my story about The London “sends a good vibe out there” for residents. “Good stories and exciting futures are what people want.”

People also want pubs - and Port Melbourne now has one fewer.

The London is one of the city’s oldest pubs to face the wrecking ball. But it’s far from alone.