Australia has always had close and personal relationships with drinking dens. When the British colonised the country in the late 18th century, a pub - or ‘public house’ - that reminded homesick expatriates of the ‘motherland’ was often the first thing that was built in any new settlement. Even today, the local pub functions as the centre of the community, a place to catch up over a schooner or two in the front bar, watch the footy or play a bit of pool or trivia when the working day winds down. Increasingly, dilapidated 19th and early 20th century pubs are being bought up by modern hospitality groups and given a new vigour, with the good ones careful to retain the property’s original heritage charm. Urban, regional or coastal, Australian cities, towns and villages wouldn’t be the same without a ‘local’.
The Builders Arms, Fitzroy Vic
No other capital city worships at the altar of the great Australian pub quite like Melbourne. Everyone has a ‘local’, and they’re regularly reimagined and refitted to keep them in good nick (though woe betide any who swap out any long-standing character or heritage touches in the name of progress). The Builders Arms in the hipster suburb of Fitzroy is one of the city’s oldest (it was built in 1853, just a few decades after Europeans arrived in the area) and boasts one of the city’s most storied histories. The pub was originally a safe place for the city’s marginalised Indigenous and migrant communities to congregate and socialise, and was the first Melbourne venue to allow Aboriginal Australians to drink at the bar with ‘whites’. Today, it’s still bordered by a retro half-wall of custard-coloured tiles on the outside and retains many of its original features internally such as the scalloped ceiling roses in the front bar. The bistro is run by Melbourne hospitality hero Andrew McConnell (Gimlet, Cutler & Co), and the food reflects his stewardship. A crumbed chicken schnitzel, for example, gets a tricked-up twist with sauce gribiche and finely julienned slaw, and the steak is from O’Connor, one of Gippsland’s finest beef producers.
The Old Fitzroy Hotel, Woolloomooloo NSW
Sydney old-timers still remember the 150-year-old Old Fitz for its gorgeously spice-spiked laksas (“The best in Woolloomooloo”, it was widely agreed). The laksas disappeared a decade ago but its restaurant’s current incarnation as a French bistro is equally charming. However the venue’s most important claim to fame is that it’s Sydney’s only theatre pub still in operation: the basement-level Old Fitz Theatre which hosts regular plays, musical performance and comedy shows. Like any good pub, The Old Fitz has a sense of community at its core, evident in a recent street party where Executive Chef James McDonald cooked up New Orleans-style BBQ and invited bartenders from neighbourhood venues to sling drinks, with all proceeds going towards the theatre’s ongoing upkeep. Tucked away on a relatively quiet residential street in the heart of the city, it’s one of Sydney’s best places to shoot a little pool, grab a bargain-priced happy hour “schooner” of beer or indulge in a Sunday roast.
The Eltham Hotel, Eltham NSW
The palm trees out the front of this stately green-and-gold painted pub in the Northern Rivers hinterland are the clue that the Eltham is a little more tropical than the average Aussie country pub. Hospitality heavyweight Alanna Sapwell-Stone (who sculpted many of her skills at Sydney’s famous temple to all things seafood, Saint Peter) is in charge of the kitchen here, and the result is that gastronomy tourists seek it out in the same way they would a fine dining restaurant (as such, bookings are highly recommended in peak times). Dishes often have an Australian native flavour, such as a roast chicken accompanied by warrigal greens - an Indigenous Australian leafy vegetable similar to spinach, or a lasagne made from kangaroo. But while many would argue the food here is the primary drawcard, there’s also plenty of other classic pub touchstones, such as regular live folk and blues music, and a traditional tiled bar which is the perfect place to pull up a stool and have a natter to the locals. Byron Bay has plenty of excellent accommodation nearby but the Eltham also has its own colour-splashed rooms on site which are available to book.
Burrawang Village Hotel, Burrawang NSW
A proper village pub needs three things to make the grade: cosy, history-heavy interiors (such as old-timey photos of the building over the decades, and gorgeously battered brown leather sofas), roaring fires in wintertime and a fairylight-strewn beer garden out back for warm summer nights. The pretty Burrawang Village Hotel in one of the lesser-known towns of NSW’s Southern Highlands, around 140km south of Sydney, ticks every box. Previously an old post office and converted to a pub in the 1920s, it’s now run by a local family who make sure there’s plenty on offer for everyone in the area, from couples to kids. The weekly trivia nights are a great way to meet a local or two, and the Sunday roasts - complete with puffy Yorkshire puds - are the best in town.
The Imperial Hotel, Erskineville NSW
The “Impy”, as it’s affectionately known, has been a friendly and glitter-spangled haven for Sydney’s LGBTIQ+ community since the 1980s. Its legends are many, but its most prominent turn in the spotlight was when it starred as the backdrop for Hugo Weaving’s famous lip-synching crescendo in 1994’s Priscilla Queen of the Desert. This fact alone has seen the rainbow flag-fluttering corner pub in one of the inner west’s prettiest neighbourhoods become a must-do pilgrimage for countless queer visitors to the harbour city. The grand dame has swapped owners a few times since she opened, with her most recent outfit change widely considered to be the most glamorous yet. Today, guests can admire the extravagant costumes and exuberant performances of a cast of top drag artists every Saturday night as part of ‘The Priscilla Experience’, or let their hair down at the wild but always welcoming Friday and Saturday night discos. The food is not an afterthought; there’s high quality pub nosh like burgers and steaks available in the main bar, or excellent pizzas for sale on the rooftop by local pizza impresarios Pizza Bros (the ‘Quality Beast’ featuring small-batch salsicce from nearby meat pros Whole Beast Butchery is the pick).
The Prairie Hotel, SA
It’s no secret that Australians are known to dine on their own coat of arms (kangaroo and to a lesser extent emu can be found on menus all around the country) but few present the country’s native fauna on plates with quite the dedication of the Prairie Hotel in outback South Australia. The marquee dish at the Gallery Restaurant is the ‘feral mixed grill’ which includes chargrilled kangaroo filet, camel sausage and an emu rissole, or meat patty. But if the idea of eating wildlife is too confronting there’s also plenty of regular pub grub like burgers and salad, and almost all of it is locally sourced. Beyond the plate, the pub - which began life as a 19th century railway siding - sits in some of the country’s most spectacular terrain, at the foothill of the Flinders Ranges. The hotel runs an exclusive fossil tour of the newly-minted Nilpena Ediacara National Park in conjunction with Nilpena Ediacara Tours, as well as guided tours of the 300 million year old mountain range that defines the region.
The Scenic Hotel, Adelaide Hills SA
The Adelaide Hills, one of the country’s great wine regions, is a mere 30 minute drive from the centre of the South Australian capital. Most people visit for the wineries or the Germanic-leaning producers (there’s no shortage of bratwurst or beer - a tribute to the region’s German settlers) but the Scenic Hotel - which dates back to 1869 - is an equally enticing drawcard. The venue is flanked by solid masonry walls and wraparound wooden balconies which help it retain its heritage soul, while a seat on the second second floor grants guests uninterrupted views all the way to Adelaide city. When in South Australia there’s very little reason to drink wine produced anywhere else, and the Scenic gives guests a wide opportunity to do just that. The list includes a large but well-curated selection of organic drops from McLaren Vale, The Clare Valley, Riverland and of course The Adelaide Hills themselves. As the sun sets, there are few better places to be than the Scenic’s beer garden, which is dotted with veggie beds and grand pine trees.
