By MICK ROBERTS © MISSING trays of glassware and boxes of spirits, mysteriously turning-up later, cutlery re-arranged in the dining room, locked doors found wide open, eerie taps on the shoulder, and weird sounds throughout the middle of the night,… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © WHILE many who call Bellambi home know of their historic watering hole by the railway station, some may be surprised to learn of their first pub, down by the sea. Today’s Bellambi Hotel – opened in… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © RUBBING my hands over the damp, cold sandstone walls of what could be Sydney’s oldest pub cellar, I knew there was a story to be told. A brief tour around what remains of Edward Turner’s 1834… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © SPEAKING at the officially opening of the Sydney Royal Arcade in 1882, a council alderman described the Bull’s Head Inn and surrounding shops as “massed filthy dens and cesspits”, and their demolition to make way for… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © FIFTY five years after the death of her husband, Irish hotelier Johanna Ryan was finally reunited with her spouse Michael, laid to rest beside him in the Catholic section of Australia’s largest cemetery. The year was… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © THERE was hardly a dull moment in the short but colourful history of Sydney’s Red Bull Inn, a little pub that traded for 20 years on today’s Broadway. Believed to be constructed of stone, the two… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © FOR over 80 years the Dog and Duck was a landmark pub on George Street Sydney. A coach terminus for travellers between country NSW and Sydney, and popular with teamsters bringing stock and trade from the… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © BESIDES running a popular and profitable bar, the pinnacle for a career publican must be hosting the likes of royalty – and the closest to Australian royalty is a governor general. Ellen Stokes hosted at least… Read More ›