Author Archives
A newspaper journalist, writer and local historian, Mick Roberts specialises in Australian cultural history, particularly associated with the Australian hotel and liquor industry. Mick has had an interest in revealing the colourful story of pubs, inns and associated industries in the Sydney and Illawarra regions of NSW for over 30 years. He is currently working on a comprehensive history of the hotel and liquor industry in the Illawarra region of NSW. Besides authoring a number of history books, Mick has owned and operated several community newspapers. He was one time editor of the Wollongong Northern News, The Bulli Times, The Northern Times, The Northern Leader and The Local - all located in the Wollongong region. As a journalist he has worked for Rural Press, Cumberland (News Limted), Sydney based, City News, and is now with Torch Publications.
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Rose Hotel, Chippendale
WHEN I called into the Rose Hotel on busy Cleveland Street at Darlington for a Sunday beer, there wasn’t a soul in the main bar… Strange I thought, so I ventured further into the pub finding most customers were eating… Read More ›
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City View Hotel, Redfern
HERE’S a blast from Redfern’s past… the former City View Hotel, which sits on the corner of Vine Street and Abercrombie Street, just opposite the Eveliegh Hotel. The City View was established by John Walsh in 1877 and traded for… Read More ›
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New Britannia, Darlington
NOW operating as a pizza restuarant, with a licensed bar, the New Britannia was built in 1879 on land purchased by William Hutchinson in 1845. Located on busy Cleveland Street in the inner-Sydney suburb of Darlington, the pub sits on land… Read More ›
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Eveleigh Hotel, Redfern
GENTRIFICATION is around the corner for arguably Sydney’s last working class inner-suburb, Redfern. But, for those who appreciate the remnants of working class Sydney, there’s still a few traditional pubs worth a visit. One of my favourite Redfern pubs is… Read More ›
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He can shout – if he likes
This week the Sunday Telegraph asked the President of the United Liquor Victuallers Association (ULVA), Mr N. Connolly, the attitude the ULVA would adopt toward a Sydney publican who reintroduced the pre-war gesture of “shouting” rounds of drinks for his… Read More ›
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Continental Hotel, Broome
By John Larkins * THERE could have hardly been a more Australian pub than the old tin Continental at Broome. A great, ugly edifice but oh, so charming. One day they decided it had lived too long. So they began… Read More ›
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Shakespeare Hotel, Surry Hills
“LET’S drop into the ‘Shakey’ for a bite and a beer,” was my suggestion as we battled the traffic towards Sydney from Wollongong today. A morning visiting dad in Coledale Hospital, and the thirst inducing drive north to Sydney, through… Read More ›
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Hotel shortages
ALL the situations conceived by Gilbert and Sullivan in their libretto, “Box and Cox,” have been brought on to the stage of real life at Wollongong, rejuvenated city of steel and coal on the South Coast of New South Wales…. Read More ›
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Villawood Hotel, Villawood
YOU know that glare? That glare you get when you walk into an unfamiliar pub? Is there a more uncomfortable feeling? Yes. When you walk into an almost empty bar, order your beer and take a seat – presumably where… Read More ›
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Sydney’s 1950s “Super Pubs”
IN an effort to spread evenly the number of pubs around a rapidly expanding Sydney, the NSW Government began encouraging the transferral of inner-city pub licenses out into the suburbs during the late 1940s. One of the first “Super Pubs”… Read More ›