Civic Hotel, Canberra, 1970. Picture: Noel Butlin Archives, Australian National University
Barman Mr Ned McInnes serves customers in the saloon bar at the Canberra Civic Hotel yesterday, the first day of Sunday hotel drinking in the ACT.
Hotel bar staffs through out Canberra were “flat out” yesterday, bottle departments were “booming” and beer gardens were “chock-a-block” on the first “wet” Sunday in the ACT.
A spokesman for the Statesman Hotel at Curtin said the hotel’s three main bars had been full all day since the first arrivals had begun knocking on the door at 11.30am.
He attributed the popularity to the novelty of Sunday hotel drinking and yesterday’s fine weather, but said he expected Sunday trading to remain quite brisk even after the novelty wore off.
A Wellington Hotel-Motel spokesman said trade had continued brisk until closing time at 6.30pm.
Wellington Hotel, Forrest, ACT, 1970. Picture: Noel Butlin Archives, Australian National University
Everybody was catered for. However, although hotels were attracting a large number of customers yesterday, licensed clubs denied any fall off in their liquor sales.
“Our members are firm club drinkers. They don’t go to pubs”, one club spokesman said, and his statements were backed by other club representatives.
Even the “wardrobe drinker” was catered for by licensed grocery stores which traded from 9am to 9pm yesterday. Several grocers said liquor sales had been higher than expected.
– Canberra Times, Monday 20 December 1971
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Categories: Australian Capital Territory Hotels
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