WANGARATTA'S weekend nightclub scene is set for a shift over coming months, with Murphy Street's Grand Central Hotel closed for renovations until at least early December.

The hotel - affectionately known as The GC - held its 'last call' on Saturday before the lengthy break, with owner Steve Wilson now preparing for the venue's first major renovation since 1994.

With other CBD venues' closing times ranging from 12am at Old Faithfulls and The Railyard to 1am at the Pinsent Hotel and Wangaratta RSL, it will be a significant change to the late-night scene in the rural city's centre, where the Grand Central opens until around 4am on weekends.

Mr Wilson, who also owns the North Eastern Hotel in Spearing Street, said works valued at more than $300,000 would involve stripping out the back section of the Grand Central for a full refurbishment.

"Our hope is to re-open sometime in December - hopefully early December, but obviously things can pop up when you're stripping things back to the bare bones on a 115-year-old building," he said.

"It's not the best time of year to be doing it - we were hoping to start the works in mid-winter, but it just hasn't worked out that way.

"On re-opening, though, it will be a fresh, new venue, and we have some new acts in the pipeline."

Mr Wilson said the hotel was one of only a small number of late-night venues in the district - two currently operating in Albury and one in Cobram - with patrons' changing habits, particularly post-COVID, having had an effect on the scene.

"Together with the cinema, we closed longer than everyone else in COVID, so for the two affected years, we had 12 weeks of trade, and most of that was restricted," he said.

"That was pretty rough, and we've taken a while to recover from that.

"A whole generation of kids who turned 18 had never been to the GC, which is a bit of a rite of passage; not all kids, but most, when they turn 18 want to go out and socialise with their friends, so with that off the table, it did change things.

"It has come back since then; there are always people looking to go out and do something on a Saturday night, and we have a diverse patronage ranging from 18-year-olds to people in their 50s and 60s.

"We also get people coming here from Yarrawonga, Benalla and Myrtleford, so it will be a change for those areas too."

Mr Wilson, who also owned the Albion Hotel opposite the Grand Central from 2002 until it closed in 2018 and has owned the GC for just over 14 years, said late night venues were becoming fewer amid a landscape which involved increasing legislation designed to keep patrons and licensees safe.

Recent innovations locally include the use of an IDU identification scanner, which checks the ID provided by patrons against a photo taken at the venue entry, and then provides a percentage match.

"Anything lower than 90 per cent means you will most likely not be permitted entry," Mr Wilson said.

"There are a lot of fake IDs out there, and we're hoping this technology will help us deal with that.

"Most venues in town are picking up kids trying to get in with fake IDs they have purchased online, and I know all the venues in Albury use it too."

The technology can also alert venue operators in other centres about patrons who have been blocked from entry at a hotel elsewhere.

"It helps keep the undesirables away," Mr Wilson said.

As he prepares for the next chapter in the life of the Murphy Street venue - which will include a yet-to-be-announced new name for the nightclub section - Mr Wilson said he had enjoyed his time working in the local hotel scene.

"I have lots of good memories; it's a good town, and I've met so many great people over the years," he said.