If you've ever doubted the power of social media, please read on. In less than 24 hours, a simple Facebook post appears to have saved one of the Illawarra's most loved restaurants – at least for now.

At 7pm last night (Thursday, August 28) the owner of the famous Ruby's Restaurant at Kembla Heights posted on Facebook that he was being forced to close in one month's time by the owners of the property, GM3 Coal Mine.

Scott Woods' Facebook post said: "This is the hardest post that I have ever had to do. We have had some very devastating news. GM3, the owners of all the land in Kembla Heights, including Ruby's, have unexpectedly decided to not renew the lease at Ruby's after a brief period of negotiation where I thought we had met GM3's proposal. After almost 40 years of (good and reliable tenancy) they have not only terminated our lease, they have only given us until 30 September to vacate. I can't begin to tell you how heartbroken I am to have to give you this news. As the head chef and owner of Ruby's for 17 years, and also where I began my apprenticeship in 1999, I am completely shocked and devastated, as I am sure you are too upon hearing this news...not only are they destroying my business but all our upcoming weddings."

The news creates a social media storm

That post sparked a social media storm from patrons and supporters of the award-winning restaurant with nearly 500 comments posted by lunchtime today. Those comments included:

"Another example of corporate greed before community need." – John Gabriele

"This is awful news. We had our wedding with you 16 years ago and named our daughter Ruby." – Bree O'Kane

"Oh, I'm so sorry Scott and team. You've truly created an Illawarra icon."  – Jenna Young

"So incredibly heartbreaking, maddening, devastating...but there is something heartwarming in seeing the proactive en-masse reactions with full support here for you Scott." – Rebecca Ramsay

The support has been humbling

The Illawarra Flame dropped in at 1pm today to catch up with Scott and to hear his version of events. The first thing Scott wanted to say was how overwhelmed he'd been by the community reaction.

"It's been so humbling seeing the community response and it's so nice to know this place means so much to so many people. It's so good to know that so many people are behind us."

Scott said negotiations over the lease agreement with McGrath Real Estate had been progressing for much of this year. He said the long-term arrangement, which has held firm for decades, is that the tenant covers the cost of all the maintenance of the historic property to avoid any rent increases. 

"That was the deal... and  we've spent in excess of $20,000 on repairs and maintenance already this year," Scott said.

Tried to resolve it amicably

"They've tried to double the rent, and we have put forward numerous counter offers which have been rejected. We tried to resolve it amicably behind the scenes but when it was clear we were being forced out I thought I should post on Facebook."

At 1.30pm today (Friday) while the Flame was wrapping up its conversation with Scott, he received a message from his solicitor that the termination of the lease had been withdrawn by GM3.

(Interestingly, it's exactly one year today that GM3 purchased the Dendrobium and Appin mines from South32 for a reported $2.5 billion.)

At 2pm today The Illawarra Flame received a statement about Ruby's tenancy issue from GM3, delivered by a crisis communications company.

A statement from the mining company

The statement said: "GM3 has been in discussion with the owners of Ruby's Mount Kembla restaurant regarding a dated tenancy agreement which has been in place since 2010. So far, we have not been able to resolve a long-term, modern lease arrangement with Mr Woods. As members of the community know, the Kembla Height Village is a site of historic significance and has a heritage listing. We have been in discussions with Mr Woods since March 2025 on some heritage issues and we will continue to resolve these. We recognise that this decision has had a significant impact on the community and future customers of the restaurant and in view of this we have decided to suspend the decision at the current time."

Scott expressed relief. "That's good, very good news," he said. "Can I give a very big thank you to the community. We are so very appreciative of everyone rallying around us, but I don't think we're out of the woods yet."

As we were leaving Scott received a message from the mining company requesting a meeting. He said for the past three weeks they'd been ignoring his request via email and texts for that very meeting.

The Illawarra Flame will keep our readers updated on how things progress.