By MICK ROBERTS © WHAT gave a pub beside Redfern Railway Station its sustenance to thrive, ironically would also lead to its ultimate demise. The Bedford Hotel survived its 87 years as result of trade generated from its location beside… Read More ›
NSW hotels
North Annandale Hotel, Annandale
I DROPPED by the North Annandale Hotel, in Sydney’s inner-west, for a beer after work today. It’s a ripper. The pub was busy with what looked like a regular afternoon crowd, watching sport on the large screens, or chatting over… Read More ›
Darlinghurst’s Beauchamp Hotel was named after ‘outed’ and exiled gay Governor
THE Beauchamp Hotel, at the corner of South Dowling and Oxford Streets Darlinghurst was once one of Sydney’s favourite gay pubs, and is still a favourite with the LGBT community. Ironically the pub was named after an Englishman, William Lygon, 7th… Read More ›
Dot pulled over 10,000 kegs of beer during her 20 year career as a Sydney barmaid
Over Dot Mayfield’s long career as a barmaid she estimated that she pulled an incredible 29 million beers – the equivalent to 10,000 kegs! When interviewed for a newspaper story in 1972, Dot’s son had calculated that she had walked… Read More ›
Evolution of an old Merrylands’ pub into the Billabong Hotel
THE first pub in the western Sydney suburb of Merrylands traded for less than 25 years before the license was removed to a location closer to the railway station. The two storey Victorian style corner pub, with balcony, was opened… Read More ›
Cosmopolitan Hotel, Erskineville, and NSW’s first ‘unmarried’ woman publican in over 60 years
Moya made history in 1946 as NSW’s first ‘unmarried’ female publican since 1882 By MICK ROBERTS © BORN into a family of devout Irish Catholics, Dorothy Moya Hartigan could have easily spent her life in a convent, instead of a… 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 ›
Road Trip: Central West NSW
By MICK ROBERTS © ON Time Gents’ road trips, we sometimes stumble upon pubs that can only be described as pure treasures. On a Sunday drive in 2017 we visited a number of small villages and towns in the central… Read More ›
The pub that never opened: The Athletic Club Hotel, Surry Hills
By MICK ROBERTS © A STONE’S throw down the hill, in the narrow laneways off the thriving entertainment strip of Crown Street, where weekend crowds pack Surry Hills’ venues like ‘The Clock’, and ‘White Horse’, can be found the “pub… Read More ›
Australian Hotel, The Rocks, Sydney
THE original Australian Hotel, leased to John Murray, sat at 116 Cumberland Street on land within the Observatory Hill precinct. However, the history of the hotel’s license can be traced back to 1824, when a pub traded on George Street,… Read More ›