16 December 2024

One of the many things I get excited about is early surviving bars in pubs – out of the many hundreds of pubs in Victoria, almost all of which got a makeover in the 1920s or 30s, only a handful havnt been modernised again and again since the 60s. This is the Railway Hotel in Ferrars Street South Melbourne, and that curvy bar with bottle store above in reeded glass looks very 30s to me, though not the pressed metal front (should be tiles like in pic 4), so could be a retro design from the 80s ? (Update, a member of the family who ran it in the 80s says yes the bar was already there, so probably 1930s, just the pressed metal added). The floor is 50s or 60s Lino though, so just possibly the bar is 50s looking 30s. Anyway it’s very nice. The pub was first opened in 1856 as the Napoleon the Third (apparently), but not sure if it was rebuilt at a later date – the tuck pointed brickwork revealed over the door looks later to me. Pics 1, 4 from pub website, 2,3 mine, through the door, and outside mine also.

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