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61 Victoria Parade
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Baden Powell Hotel (1900 to c. 2021)

New Bendigo Hotel (1872 - 1899)

1872

N/A

Hotel not operating since c. 2021

Renovated during the inter-war period in the Moderne style; windows later altered

N/A

N/A

Part C, pp. 633-634

N/A

Contributory to HO 336

Kearney 1855: N ; Hodgkinson 1858: N ; MMBW: Detail Plan 1197 & 1198, 1899.

Almost the first publican was Yorkshireman Joseph Brownhill, who was at the helm from 1873 until his death in 1891, when, in a common pattern for publicans, his wife Fanny took over. Brownhill had previously been licensee at the Norfolk Hotel in Easey Street.

The name of this hotel was changed in 1900 to commemorate Robert Baden Powell. During the Second Boer War, Baden-Powell became a national hero for his role in the Siege of Mafeking, 1899-1900, the most famous British action in the Second Boer War.

In the late 1920s and 1930s the Moderne style swept Melbourne, and the Baden Powell was one of many Collingwood hotels to be altered. The hotel was renovated again in 2008-2009; with the exception of enlarged ground floor windows, the exterior has not greatly changed. However, an application in 2022 for an eight-storey building to be constructed on the site included a proposal to return the hotel building to its previous Victorian appearance and original name. The planning application was refused by VCAT because it exceeded the recommended six-storey height limit for the area, but the fate of the hotel remains in limbo.

32 Peel Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Barnard's Hotel (1869 - 1914)

In 1871 Barnard applied to change the name to Barnard's Family Hotel, but there is no indication that this was put into effect.

1869

1914

Commercial premises

N/A

N/A

N/A

Part B, pp. 454-455

Volume 3, Appendix B, individually listed within precinct

Individually significant within HO318

Kearney 1855: N ; Hodgkinson 1858: N ; MMBW: Detail Plan 1201, 1899

William Barnard, a baker, owned a three-roomed timber shop on this site in 1868. The following year he built three brick shops, the corner one of which became the hotel. Barnard was the licensed victualler for many years, and also continued to conduct his business as a baker, pastrycook and confectioner until his death at the age of 74 in 1902. Barnard's probate documents include a detailed list of all the contents, ranging from the bakery cart and horse, to jars of jam, from bottles of liquor to numbers of glasses. The hotel and shops were bequeathed to his housekeeper Ann Dougherty, who shortly afterwards married James Condon. The couple continued the hotel and bakery businesses until the hotel was closed by the Licenses Reduction Board in 1914.

The hotel and adjacent shops form a pleasing example of bi-chrome brickwork. This is a building style for which the Collingwood Slope is noted, used in buildings ranging from the towering Yorkshire Brewery to small cottages.

Perry Street, outhwest corner Palmer Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Bell Inn (1860 - 1871)

N/A

1860

1871

Demolished before 1899

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N/A

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N/A

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Kearney 1855: N ; Hodgkinson 1858: N ; MMBW: N/A

Brick building with 11 rooms (Rate Book 1867). Not long after opening the Bell Inn was embroiled in a public controversy, played out in the East Collingwood courthouse and the pages of The Argus.

GUARDIANS OF THE PUBLIC MORALS

To the Editor of The Argus

Sir, _ As the police force are paid by the public for performing certain duties, I think it is but right that those duties should be performed in a manner quite different from the following.

On the evening of 2nd instant a sergeant and constable (both on duty) were drinking at the bar of the Bell Inn, Perry-street, East Collingwood, for upwards of two hours. The constable was afterwards carried home drunk by his wife, and had been previously seen rolling drunk in the public street with the landlord of the hotel.

AN OBSERVER

( The Argus, 9 July 1860, p. 5)

Landlord Samuel Colls responded angrily in print the following day, denying these allegations. The case against sergeant James Burns and constable Philip Meade was heard in court in what was described by The Argus as a 'peculiar and important case' and reported in great detail the following day. The charges were dismissed. ( The Argus 25 July 1860, p. 7).

125 Johnston Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Bendigo Hotel (1888 - 2024)

Collingwood Arms Hotel (1871-1887)

1871

N/A

Hotel ceased operating March 2024 but re-opened September 2024

Demolished and rebuilt 1911

N/A

N/A

Part A, pp. 282-284

Volume 3, Appendix B, individually listed within precinct

Individually significant within HO 324

Kearney 1855: N ; Hodgkinson 1858: N ; MMBW: 1236, 1197 & 1198, 1899 (Note wrongly labelled Bedford Hotel)

The original two-storey corner hotel known as the Collingwood Arms and built in decorative Victorian style was purchased by Carlton Brewery in 1887 and renamed the Bendigo. In 1911, after purchasing the neighbouring shop to increase the exposure to Johnston Street, they demolished the old pub and replaced it with the current building. This was built in an Art Nouveau influenced style, designed by the prominent architecture firm Sydney Smith and Ogg. An excellent photograph taken by Wolfgang Sievers in 1964 shows the distinctive 1911 style as it was meant to look. By the time John T Collins photographed the building in the early 1980s, paintwork had obscured the distinctive red brick and cement exterior but the overall design with two corner towers remains very striking. A popular music venue for 14 years, known for its heavy metal gigs, the Bendigo finally closed in 2024, succumbing to the fate of a number of icons of Melbourne's live music scene which have found the financial burden too heavy. But good news was just around the corner. In 2017 Mirek Aldridge had established The Mill Brewery in Sackville Street. In 2024, uncertain whether his rented warehouse would remain a viable option, Mirek was looking around for a new home. So two problems solved at once: The Mill Brewery took over The Bendi.

Langridge Street, northeast corner Rokeby Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Beresford Arms Hotel (1868 - 1908)

N/A

18681908

N/A

n/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Kearney 1855: N ; Hodgkinson 1858: N ; MMBW: Detail Plan 1201, 1899

The hotel opened in 1868 with a bar, two sitting rooms and three bedrooms. Local drinkers were well-served, as the Lord Nelson was already situated on the southeast corner of the intersection. It was closed by a ruling of the Licenses Reduction Board in 1908, when it was described as a very old, dilapidated, one-storey wooden structure, very poorly furnished. Constable Carlin stated that during the last seven years the hotel had been noted for trading in prohibited hours. Whenever he approached the place on Sundays, a number of men round about it scurried away, and it was common to see people coming through holes in the fence which enclosed a vacant piece of land adjoining the hotel. Another deposition described the Beresford Arms as 'the meeting place of undesirable characters, particularly after dark and on Sundays'. ( The Argus, 19 February 1908, p. 4)

It was hardly surprising, after such evidence, that the hotel was ordered to be closed.

84 Smith Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Brandon Hotel (1897 - 1914)

City of Norwich Hotel (1865 - 1867), Gray's Hotel (1868 - 1872), London Hotel (1873 - 1880), Our Boys Hotel (1880), Flying Squadron Hotel (1881 - 1896)

1865

1914

Commercial premises

1870s?

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Contributory to HO333

Kearney 1855: N/A ; Hodgkinson 1858: N/A ; MMBW: Detail Plan 1208, 1899

The 1867 rate book describes this as a six-roomed brick hotel, conducted by Mary Ann Tonkin. The existing building is certainly the same one that was there in the 1880s, but seems likely to have been re-built, perhaps in the early 1870s, as it is now one of a very similar group of shops which replaced shops which in 1867 were of timber construction.

The hotel changed publicans even more frequently than it changed its name. Luckily William Cuffley was there for long enough to have a photo taken for posterity. By 1883 Cuffley, who had operated a number of hotels around Melbourne and from 1878 until 1882 had been licensee at Steeth's Family Hotel in Wellington Street, was ensconced at the Flying Squadron where he stayed for four years. Family reminiscence has him as a kind and jovial sort of fellow - well suited to the role of publican. Alongside William and his wife in the photograph dating from the mid 1880s is his niece Emma Rosina Evans, whom he had taken in after she was widowed. The name of the hotel at this time refers to a British naval squadron.

66 Cromwell Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Bristol and Bath Hotel (1869 - 1908)

N/A

1869

1908

Streat (restaurant and cafe)

c. 1879

N/A

N/A

N/A

Volume 2, Building Citations, Part 1, pp. 101-102

HO 97 individually significant

Kearney 1855: N ; Hodgkinson: 1858: N ; MMBW map: Detail Plan 1210, 1899 (named Bath Hotel)

A stone hotel was on this site from at least 1869, but was re-built at some stage, possibly around 1879 (as evidenced by an increase in rateable value). In 1903 it was acquired by the Shamrock Brewery and in 1908 by Carlton & United Breweries. After de-licensing it became a residence, and later a boutique bordello.

The building is of local architectural significance, a free standing two storey symmetrical Italianate brick building with restrained decoration. It is particularly noteworthy nowadays that most surrounding nineteenth century housing has been demolished, leaving it standing in the midst of unprepossessing twentieth century industrial development as a testament to a lifestyle long gone.

14 Smith Street, northeast corner Mason Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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The British Crown Hotel (2008 - c. 2017)

British Crown Hotel (1860 - 1983), Smith Street Bar & Bistro (1984 - 2008)

1859-1860

N/A

Hotel not operating since 2017

Extended to include numbers 16 and 18.

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Individually significant within HO333

Kearney 1855: N ; Hodgkinson 1858: N ; MMBW: Detail Plan 1208, 1899

James Cattach was the first publican from 1859 to 1867, and again from 1873 to 1877. In the twentieth century the Roberts family ran this hotel for 74 years. Catherine Roberts arrived from Sydney in the early 1900s, took over the upbringing of her recently orphaned four nieces and a nephew, and bought a pub. Her nephew Jack took over the licence in 1956, and he and his sister Katherine Hackett ran the place until August 1982, with irregular assistance from sisters Noreen, Joan and Pattie.

When my mother died auntie brought the five of us up. We lived above the hotel and boarded at Star of the Sea. The pub was a tiny little place then. We built on as the years went by. Aunty was a wonderful woman, one of those people everyone admired. She kept us kids out of the bar... we used to peep around the door to see what was going on. Everyone called her Aunt - it was known as Aunt's hotel and after her death as Jack's hotel. She was very regal. She'd tap on the counter and say "Come on now boys, you go home" I don't remember Collingwood being a tough place ... This block in Smith Street was really lovely then... It was a real community. Everyone knew each other.... Smith Street used to be so busy, you couldn't move here on a Friday night before the war, when there was late night shopping. It used to be good fun, we had a lovely crowd. They just went mad when Collingwood won the Premiership. We had to close at 6 pm, but people would dance in the streets.
(The Melbourne Times, 18 August 1982, pp. 1, 7)

After a period of time during which it was called the Smith Street Bar and Bistro, the hotel reverted to its original name in 2008, but by 2017 it was closed and the windows boarded up, although the current owner still holds the licence. An eight-storey building was proposed for the site, reduced to seven storeys, and approved by VCAT in 2021, but construction has still not commenced (2024).