This is a list of hotels in the inner-northern area of Melbourne. This focuses on hotels which are still active, although some defunct hotels are listed if they have historical significance. It is inspired by the work of Robert K. Cole (born 1906), a Melbourne historian of hotels and brewing, who undertook extensive research on the licencees of Melbourne's hotels, circa 1841 to 1949 [1].
The history of hotels interests me because of the role they played in the social fabric of early Melbourne. Consulting Cole's multi-volume tome, or looking at old maps of the city, one is astounded by the sheer volume of hotels. Indeed, only a relative handful still exist today. Before the advent of television, or even radio, the local hotel would have been an important recreational pursuit. Instead of unwinding in front of Rove Live, people would have headed down to the pub for a few drinks. Thus, hotels provided important gathering points for for socialising.
I suspect the sheer amount of hotels was also due to the transient nature of young workers. As young single men arrived from the country areas, in search of work, hotels would have provided accommodation. This would have been especially predominant during the Victorian gold rush, with hordes of prospectors arriving from overseas.
It is hoped that this page will be a seed from which larger articles can eventually be built.
A resource which might be useful in taking photos is the Melbourne Pub Routes page [2]. Might also prove useful in providing a cleansing ale after all that walking and photography.
Another resource; Becky Aizen's superb Pots, Punks & Punters: A History of the Hotels in St Kilda and South Melbourne [3]. And another - on 15 December I picked up Brunswick's Hotels, a photocopied booklet produced by the Brunswick Community History Group.