The Bayswater Hotel – Playground Meets Pub!

The Bayswater Hotel has been a Perth institution since 1898. In October 2024, after an extensive renovation led by Bay Co, it reopened with a transformation nobody expected — a custom pub playground Perth families now make the trip to the Baysie specifically for. Van Ryt Industries designed, supplied, and installed the play space from concept to completion, creating a captivating outdoor play space for children of all ages and abilities.

Known affectionately as the Baysie, this iconic hotel sits directly opposite Bayswater train station. The challenge and the opportunity were one and the same: build something visible, bold, and genuinely thrilling in a site that offered neither an easy footprint nor a simple brief. The centrepiece — a 9-metre-plus tower rising above the roofline — delivers on every count.

A Brief That Tested Every Dimension

Bay Co's brief was clear in its ambition. The pub playground needed to function as a genuine draw card — visible from the street and engaging from the moment patrons arrived. It also had to serve large groups of families in a busy hospitality setting. However, the available courtyard space was anything but generous.

VRI's response started vertically. Rather than spreading equipment across a limited floor plan, the team turned to adjacent walls as interactive play features, maximising every available surface. Consequently, the finished play space feels generous despite its tight footprint.

Existing services and infrastructure demanded careful planning at every stage of the design. Additionally, mature trees in the courtyard required specific consideration of root zones and overhead clearance. VRI addressed each constraint methodically, ensuring the final design met project objectives and was delivered in accordance with AS 4685.

Custom Fabrication from the O'Connor Workshop

The streetscape theme was central to the brief — and VRI's O'Connor workshop delivered. Each piece of commercial playground equipment was custom fabricated to echo the urban environment of Bayswater. A custom phone booth, a Polaroid frame, and a custom moped sit alongside a ute and talking tubes on bush poles. Together, they create a play environment that tells a story before a child has even touched it.

The centrepiece is the Custom Baysie Triple Tower — a striking structure that breaks through the courtyard ceiling and rises above the building facade. From the top floor, a massive tube slide delivers the kind of thrilling exit you can see from the street. Installing such a substantial tower within a confined, built-up site required crane lifts and precise coordination. Nevertheless, VRI's experienced installation team navigated the full complexity without a delay to the programme.

Timeframe restrictions added further pressure. Furthermore, VRI coordinated design, fabrication, and installation across overlapping trades to ensure every milestone was met on schedule. This project is a clear example of what hospitality playground design looks like when a client trusts a Perth-based fabricator to solve hard problems creatively — and when WA Jarrah and custom fabrication replace an off-the-shelf catalogue.

A Family-Friendly Venue With Real Draw

Since reopening, the Baysie has become exactly what Bay Co envisioned — a family-friendly venue where the playground is part of the reason families arrive, not an amenity they discover on the way out. The outdoor play space caters to children across a broad age range, with varied play elements that reward repeat visits throughout the day.

The project's impact reached beyond the courtyard. The Bayswater Hotel playground was featured on the cover of Hospitality WA Magazine — recognition of what a well-designed play space can do for a venue's profile.

Planning a hospitality play space for your venue? Contact Van Ryt Industries today.

Featured Equipment

• Custom Baysie Triple Tower (164-BYT) — bespoke item, custom fabricated for this project
• Moped (520-MOP)
• Custom Phone Booth (341-PBO) — bespoke item, custom fabricated for this project
• Custom Polaroid Frame (342-PLD) — bespoke item, custom fabricated for this project
• Ute (505-UTE)
• Talking Tubes on Bush Poles (781-TAB)
• 5 x 5 Naughts and Crosses (705-FXT)