Hotel Royal, Wallerawang, NSW. Picture: Mick Roberts Collection
Is your local pub a Royal? If so, you’re in good company.
New data from Liquor & Gaming NSW shows Royal is by far the most popular hotel name in NSW.
With 88 Royal Hotels across the state, it’s more than twice as common as the next most popular hotel name, the Commercial with 38.
Other hotels with Royal in the title – such as Royal Oak, Royal Mail and Royal George – are also found in many NSW towns and suburbs.
The Royal name was incredibly popular in the 20th Century, reflecting Australia’s close cultural links to Britain.
Naming a hotel Royal gave an air of prestige and was a winning marketing move given Australian society’s fervent support for British royalty for much of the century.
The late 1950s was the Royal’s golden age, with 43 new Royal Hotels licensed between 1958 and 1960.
Regional NSW is over-represented in the list of Royal Hotels, accounting for 79 of the 88 hotels currently licensed with the name.
Country hotels, in particular, play vital key role as the cornerstone of scores of local communities across NSW.
There’s a sense of pride surrounding a local pub, which often provides a fascinating insight into a town or suburb’s history.
Despite sharing the same name, each Royal Hotel provides something unique to its local community.
Country pubs bring people together and are often the lifeblood of the communities they serve. They are also major employers and boost local economies through tourism, live entertainment, accommodation and dining.
There are many unique and historic pubs across NSW. Yet, no matter where you are in NSW, you’re likely to run into at least one pub with one of these names:
This interactive map tracks the Royal Hotels in NSW.
– With thanks to Liquor and Gaming NSW. Republished from http://www.liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au
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Categories: NSW hotels
A few years back we were having a beer in the Criterion in South Johnstone near Innisfail. They had a list on the wall of all the Criterion’s in the country. But the thing that always amuses me is the number of towns that refer to their pubs as the Top pub and The Bottom pub.