THE Criterion was built at Weston in 1903 by James Jones, an experienced hotelier who had run a number of hotels in Newcastle and Sydney prior to setting his sights on the booming coalfields of South Maitland. Jim was licensee… Read More ›
Newcastle hotels
Coal miner turns his hand to running pubs: The Aberdare Hotel, Weston
THE Aberdare Hotel at Weston, NSW, was built by Englishman, John Champion who came to Australia at the age of 21 in 1876. Champion was coal miner, who later went into business, hosting the Rose, Shamrock, and Thistle Hotel at… Read More ›
New Year’s Beers 1947 Style
WITH temperatures rising to 32 degrees in Newcastle on New Year’s Eve 1947, the hotels were thronged with thirsty customers – so thirsty that the beer supplies failed in some cases. This group made a typical scene during the afternoon –… Read More ›
Thirsty Newcastle customers
With temperatures rising to 90 degrees [32.2 celsius] in Newcastle yesterday, the hotels were thronged with thirsty customers – so thirsty that the beer supplies failed in some cases. This group made a typical scene during the afternoon. – Newcastle… Read More ›
Old timers at Kurri Kurri
Robert Bruce, 74, and Andy Callaghan, 73, retired mineworkers, chat over a cool glass of beer at Kurri Kurri yesterday. – Newcastle Morning Herald (NSW) Tuesday 6 December 1949.
Road Trip: Great Northern Hotel, Teralba
OF the five pubs we visited in the Lake Macquarie area of NSW over the Queens Birthday Long Weekend, the Great Northern at Teralba takes the crown as the most traditional working class watering hole. It’s a ripper. You… Read More ›
Road Trip: Minmi’s last pub
THE Minmi Hotel is the last ‘man standing’ in a coal mining settlement that once boasted a dozen places where the inhabitants could ‘wet their whistle’. By the late 1870s, the township had 500 men employed at the local colliery… Read More ›
Road Trip: Museum Hotel, West Wallsend
THE second stop on our visit to West Wallsend district’s watering holes this weekend was Lake Macquarie’s second oldest pub – The Museum Hotel. The West Wallsend pub – the last of the town’s pubs – opened in 1889, and… Read More ›
Road Trip: Holmesville Hotel, Holmesville
TO think that the Holmesville Hotel was almost lost as a house of hospitality! Time Gents visited the West Wallsend district in NSW over the weekend, dropping into a few of the historic pubs, on what was rainy, miserable Queens… Read More ›