Publocation

We'll tell you where to go for every Australian pub.

Stats and facts on Australian pubs (useless bits of info)

Australia has eight different licensing jurisdictions with many and varied categories of licences. There are Hotels, Taverns, Bars, Off-Licences, Roadhouses, Licensed Restaurants, Club Licences and so on. Gathering information on Hotels or Pubs as we colloquially refer to them, has required making determinations as to the suitability of some categories. We settled on an establishment with a bar with public access, providing either food or accommodation as a basic.

For a historical perspective of Australian Pubs try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_pubs

In the process of gathering this information we have come up with the following statistics. Hope they will be of interest.

Total Hotel Pubs & Bars

6033 (est. *)

(i) By State:

NSW 2052
QLD 1251
VIC 1092
SA 658
WA 595
TAS 281
NT 72
ACT 32

Note: * Numbers are updated every 12 mths so vary during each year with new opening and closures.

(ii) Establishment Type:

Hotel 4337
Tavern 731
Inn 261
Bar 162
Pub 75
Others * 562

Others * E.g. Saloon (5), Morten's on Sussex, Vault, GPO Sydney, The Cuckoo's Perch etc.

(iii) Capital Cities by Postcode:

Sydney 2000 164
Adelaide 5000 78
Melbourne 3000 67
Brisbane 4000 47
Hobart 7000 45
Perth 6000 30
Darwin 0800 18
Canberra 2601 13

(iv) Outside Capital Cities:

NSW

Newcastle 19
Broken Hill 19

QLD

Toowoomba 24
Rockhampton 23
Cairns 22

VIC

Ballarat 33
Bendigo 31
Geelong 29

SA

Mt Gambier 10
Gawler 9

WA

Fremantle 20
Bunbury 11
Geraldton 9

TAS

Launceston 30
Burnie 7
Sandy Bay 5

NT

Alice Springs 9
Tennant Creek 3

(v) Location Facts:

  • 69% of hotels/pubs/taverns etc are located on corner blocks.
  • 52% of taverns are located next to or in suburban shopping centers.
  • As a general rule taverns are not required to provide accommodation.

Australia's

Most Northerly pub:   Saibai Tavern, Torres Strait
Most Northerly mainland pub:   Bamaga Tavern, Bamaga, Qld
Most Southerly pub:   Far South Tavern, Tas
Most Easterly pub:   Beach Hotel, Byron Bay, NSW
Most Westerly pub:   Rumah Tinggi Tavern Christmas Isld
Most Westerly mainland pub:   Shark Bay Hotel, WA
Most Central pub (geographical):   Kulgera Roadhouse (Pub), NT
Highest located pub:   Thredbo Alpine Hotel, Thredbo, NSW

(v) Every Pub Has Its Name:

Everyone's heard of the most popular names for pubs – Royal, Commercial, Railway, and Grand etc but never been sure of the definitive lists or popularity of names. So here goes. Be prepared for some interesting surprises.

Royal 242 Federal 31 Farmer 11
Commercial 137 Criterion 29 Telegraph 11
Club 107 Albion 23 Metropolitan 10
Grand 81 Junction 23 Riverview 10
Railway 74 Courthouse 22 Reef 10
Central 44 Shamrock 21 Bush 9
Victoria 43 Palace 20 Commonwealth 8
Exchange 42 Union 19 Oriental 7
Imperial 39 Empire 17 Wheat sheaf 7
Australian 34 Terminus 16 Waterloo 7
Crown 34 Globe 15 Racecourse 6
Golden 34 Post office 16 Robin Hood 6
Star 32 Prince of Wales 14 Jockey 5

Some pubs have more direction:

Northern 17 Western 14 Eastern 7

Some are named after animals:

There are: 13 Bulls, 11 Dogs, 9 Horses, 7 Cows, 6 Ducks, 2 each of Frog, Parrot, Goose, Rabbit, Pelican, Crow, Kangaroo, Wombat, Emus, Hound. And 1 Wallaby, Cat, Koala, Cockatoo, Cattle Dog, Bird and Dingo.
But there could be more. We'll leave it to you to search for.

Irish:

There are 85 "Irish - themed" pubs such as O'Malley's, Mick O'Shea and Dooley's.

Australian icons:

It's been popular to name pubs after historical and cultural Australian icons.
Here's a few: Digger, Colonial, Billabong, Aussie, Boomerang, Southern Cross, Nugget, Thunderbolt, Bourke & Wills, Cobb & Co, Bunyip, Black Stump, Dad & Dave, Wattle, Buckley's, Geebung Polo Club, Drover, & The Man from Snowy River.
Check 'em out. See if you can find some we've missed.

While you're at it, there's The Pub with no Beer, The Outback Inn, The Town & Country, The Pickled Parrot, Smithy's @ Plumtree via Stanage, and The Leap via Mackay. Or, you could stroll to the Amble Inn, relieve yourself at The Lue Hotel and you could ‘drive' to The Tap Inn (which has its own indoor driving range). If that's not enough you can wait a while at The Linga Longa Inn if you've just come from The Nevertire Hotel.

If you want to know where these pubs and plenty more are located use our search facilities and our interactive maps.

 

Other facts