Opposites: hotel reused as fast food outlet 52/9/1, a photo by Collingwood Historical Society on Flickr.
This photo is part of the Flickr Friday photos 2012 challenge under the theme “Opposites”. The obvious opposite was the reuse of a building, the former United Kingdom Hotel Clifton Hill, as an outlet of McDonalds. But there are a few opposites here: hotel/McDonalds, alcohol/no alcohol, park/McDonalds. Maybe you can think of more?
The former United Kingdom Hotel at the intersection of Queens Parade and Heidelberg Road Clifton Hill operated from 1878 until it was delicensed in 1988 and became an outlet of McDonalds. You can see the Victorian hotel in this photo from 1887 and in this 1905 image. This building is also the one that you can see in the 1904 MMBW map of the area. In this map a section of which is shown below you can see the layout of the building, the verandahs and yard and the WCs for the patrons. You can also see a horse trough to the left. A Bills horse trough still stands on the site though it is probably not the same one as the current one is located further to the south and Bills horse troughs were constructed later than 1904. There are photos of it here.
The hotel was near the terminus of the cable tram and no doubt shared some of the resulting trade with the Terminus Hotel on the Fitzroy side. The current building in the Moderne style dates to 1937/38 with Queens Parade additions in 1957/58. There is more information about the hotel in the Hotels section of the Collingwood Historical Society website.