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 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.

Beachfront pubs:

To be considered a beachfront hotel you must be able to walk from the pub to the beach without crossing a roadway or some one else's property.

1. Sunset Tavern, KARUMBA POINT, QLD
2. Albatross Bay Resort, WEIPA, QLD
3. Foxy's Bar, FITZORY ISLAND, QLD
4. Forrest Beach Hotel Motel, ALLINGHAM, QLD
5. Bushland Beach Tavern, BUSHLAND BEACH, QLD
6. Longboard Bar and Grill, TOWNSVILLE, QLD
7. Picnic Bay Pub, MAGNETIC ISLAND, QLD
8. Hotel Pacific, EIMEO, QLD
9. Hay Point Hotel Motel, HAY POINT, QLD
10. Sandstone Hotel, SANDSTONE POINT, QLD
11. Saltbar Beach Bar & Bistro, KINGSCLIFF, NSW
12. Cabarita Beach Hotel, CABARITA BEACH, NSW
13. Park Beach Hotel, COFFS HARBOUR, NSW
14. The Collaroy Hotel, COLLAROY, NSW
15. Headlands Hotel, AUSTINMER, NSW
16. Seahorse Inn Hotel, BOYDTOWN PARK, NSW
17. Portsea Hotel, PORTSEA, VIC
18. Caledonian Inn, ROBE, SA
19. Seabird Tavern, SEABIRD, WA
20. Endeavour Tavern, LANCELIN, WA
21. Lancelin Beach Hotel, LANCELIN, WA
22. Schooner's Bar & Grill, LARRAKEYAH, NT
23. Walkabout Tavern, NHULUNBUY, NT
24. Rumah Tinggi Tavern And Restaurant, CHRISTMAS ISLAND, WA

Want to know more?

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

 

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