By MICK ROBERTS © LIKE footballers, it seemed it was once a right of passage for boxers to turn their hand to a pub career after retiring from their sport. One pugilist who swapped his gloves for a publican apron was… Read More ›
Publicans
Sydney’s majestic nude painting left ‘Chloe for dead’ at Sydney’s Newcastle Hotel
THE bars of Jim Buckley’s Newcastle Hotel, in Sydney’s CBD, were adorned with artwork. Most of the available wall space inside the pub, which was home to Sydney’s more creative drinkers, was hung with artwork. Buckley had the the pub,… Read More ›
Commodore Hotel named after Billy Blue, Sydney puntman and ‘first American migrant’ to Australia
THERE’S a modern looking pub trading at McMahon’s Point, North Sydney that gives no indication of its interesting connection with Colonial Sydney. John Blue was granted a “new license” for a two-storey sandstone inn on March 7 1854. He named… Read More ›
Botany’s Waterworks Hotel joined Sydney’s ‘150 club’ in 2018
THE Waterworks Hotel at Botany reached a significant milestone in 2018 when it joined a select number of Sydney pubs that have marked 150 years of trade. Named after the nearby Sydney Waterworks, which was established in 1858, the little… Read More ›
Road trip: Morpeth’s Commercial Hotel was operated by four sisters for 15 years
By MICK ROBERTS © OUR 2018 road trip to the Hunter Valley, included a visit to the grand old Commercial Hotel at Morpeth. There seems to have been two Commercial Hotels trading in Morpeth, the first licensed by Moses Murphy in… Read More ›
Customers of ‘Limit Jim’ allowed only two to four drinks at Tabulam Hotel
IF you were planning to get plastered on the grog at Jim Jordan’s pub, you chose the wrong bar. The publican of Tabulam Hotel, in the far north-east of NSW, between Tenterfield and Casino, was known as ‘Limit Jim’. Jim,… Read More ›
Chelmsford Hotel, Kurri Kurri.
ON a road trip to the upper Hunter, we stopped at the bandaged Chelmsford Hotel at Kurri Kurri. The poor old lady was undergoing a bit of a facelift, and she wasn’t in the best state to be photographed…. Read More ›
Coal miner turned 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 ›
The Plasto method: How to pull a proper beer
THIS week an American visitor complained of the way beer is served in Sydneyhotels – This week 27 barmaids and barmen employed by a well-known Sydneyhotelkeeper, received with their pay envelopes, instructions on the art of pulling and serving beer…. Read More ›
The flamboyant, singing publican
By MICK ROBERTS © A FLAMBOYANT opera singer, who gained his stage name from actress Ann Sheridan, was the publican responsible for giving Jamberoo its English Tudor style pub. The larger than life character is said to have renovated… Read More ›