After decades of standing at Lavington's Five Ways intersection, a 10-metre high landmark has been removed by crane and replaced.
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The towering metal stand had been a beacon to draw patrons to the Northside pub, with the words hotel and motel on its sides and a Carlton Draught sign at its apex.
It has been replaced, as part of an extensive makeover of the watering hole, with a similarly shaped eight-metre structure which has a logo with The Northside Hotel and signs below that state bistro, motel, sports bar, kids play and functions.
As the delicate operation to crane the old signage over the beer garden fence unfolded shortly after 10am on Monday, July 1, the bistro remained open.
Among those watching from its front window was patron Frank Sigg, who was nursing a pot of Carlton Draught.
"It was spectacular, it was something different," Mr Sigg, who drinks at the Northside each day, said.
"It's good to see the monstrosity gone, it's all rusted out and the new sign will make the place look a lot different."
The fresh structure, which was lifted into place after midday and then bolted down, was made by Albury Steel Fabricators.
Director Dave Holmes said it had been fabricated over the past fortnight with the signs made by a Wodonga company and finally attached on Saturday, June 29.
Albury firm WA Pickles provided the crane, a 60-tonne Liebherr model, which was extended 20 metres at its maximum to enable the old sign's frame to be lifted above the beer garden wall.
The structure was in place since at least the 1970s and may have been first erected the decade previous with motel units opened at the business in 1963.
Having opened in 1938, the pub has been named the Continental, Sar's, MacWhite's and the Garrison, before being badged the Northside from 2006.
A major renovation, which has seen the exterior given a new paint scheme, and the bar and bistro transformed, is now in its final stages.
