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Wellington Street, east side, south of Perry Street, variously numbered 214/282 Wellington Street during the hotel's existence
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Wellington Hotel (1862 - 1885)

Baker's Arms (1861)

1861

1885

Demolished

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

A brick hotel with 11 rooms (Rate Book 1864 &1870), which was started by baker James Mason, who sold his bread from the hotel until the building of his neighbouring baker's shop was completed. (The Argus, 9 February, 1861, p .6). An early owner was Samuel Ramsden, a quarryman who was also a councillor in 1857-59. Its location is now part of the site of the Wellington Street Housing Commission high rise flats. A photo taken from a vantage point in Johnston Street around 1886 shows the Wellington Hotel, a rendered two storey building with five windows on the upper floor. The Studley Arms, built in bluetone, can be seen just a few doors to the south (see Hotel 79).

It was not just customers who drank too much and got into fights. On this occasion it was the publican who was charged with assault:

Michael Donellan of the Wellington Hotel, Wellington-st is charged with assaulting John McGlone. The complainant was drinking in the hotel and having got intoxicated went outside to fight with the defendant, when the latter struck him a severe blow to the face with a lemonade bottle, which he had taken from the bar. The Bench thought that, considering the defendant's position as a publican, the justice of the case would not be met by the infliction of a fine, and accordingly sentenced him to a month's imprisonment at the same time ordering him to pay £2/15/6 costs.

 The Argus, 12/10/1870

More serious problems arose in 1884 when Thomas May attempted to renew his licence. No fewer than four lawyers appeared in the crowded court, as a large number of residents had signed a petition to have the place closed. Senior Constable Lineham described the Wellington as 'a most infamous house, a common brothel'. He had also seen 'a woman who was not a prostitute taken to the house by a flash young man. They both went upstairs and remained there for some time'. Grocer Alfred Webber opined that the hotel was frequented by persons of the 'most disreputable class'. The general feeling was that, with three respectable hotels in the vicinity, a school and two churches opposite, and the Salvation Army Barracks just up the road, it would be a blessing if the hotel closed. The Bench agreed. Another application was made in January 1885 by Alfred Leahy, but again refused.

79 Vere Street, southwest corner Cromwell Street
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Willow Tree Hotel (c.1856 - 1936)

Leeds Arms Hotel (1854 - c.1855)

1854

December 1936

Demolished between 1936 and 1989

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Kearney 1855: Y ; Hodgkinson 1858: Y ; MMBW: Detail Plan 1199 & 1200, 1899

This was a stone hotel with fifteen rooms (Rate Book 1864, 1870). A very distant view of the hotel can be seen in a photograph taken from the town hall around 1887 but you will need to look carefully to find the two-storey square building to the west of the large Vere Street State School.

Richard Norton bought the hotel in 1856 and retained ownership when his son-in-law Charles Swift took over as publican. In a typical Collingwood pattern, Swift forwarded his political ambitions through local networks. Election meetings were held at the hotel, and the fourth Oddfellow's Lodge to be established in Collingwood (in 1858) met at the Willow Tree. Swift was a lodge official, as was George David Langridge, and both men became councillors in 1865. At the other end of the spectrum, Collingwood Town Clerk J J Moody requested dairymen of East Collingwood to attend a public meeting at the Willow Tree in October 1860. Langridge went on to enter parliament in 1875. After Swift's death in 1870, his wife Anne ran the hotel until 1886.

It was closed by an April 1936 determination of the Licensing Court, along with the Council Club Hotel in Johnston Street. The Court stated that the district was one of the most densely populated industrial centres in the State and had a large daily influx of workers but the evidence showed that the hotel accommodation for the supply of meals and beds, as well as the number of licences, was in excess of present-day demands. The Court added that sittings to deal with claims for compensation would be held as promptly as possible and owners and licensees were asked to submit their claims early. (The Argus 21 April 1936, p. 11)

[86] Wellington Street, east side, between Waterloo and Robert streets
Collingwood 3066
Australia
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Yorkshire Hotel (1853 - 1914)

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1853

1914

Demolished

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Kearney 1855: Y ; Hodgkinson 1858: Y ; MMBW map: Detail Plan 1209, 1899

A brick and stone hotel of fourteen rooms with a Gross Annual Value of 200 pounds (Rate Book 1864 and 1865). Hotelier John Wood started the Yorkshire Brewery next door in 1858; the business prospered and a new brewery was constructed in 1876. Wood's son James designed the brew tower and supervised additions to the hotel in 1887, as well as work on other Collingwood hotels including The Retreat and The Earl of Zetland. The brewery, hotel and surrounds were depicted in a sketch published in the Australian Brewers Journal 20 July, 1890. (See Yorkshire Brewery )

While the hotel is long gone, the decorative tower of the 1876 brewery still stands, albeit disgracefully vandalised and neglected.