The Royal Hotel celebrates 100 years of serving Queanbeyan. Photo: Region.
To (mis)quote a famous Chinese proverb: what’s the best time to plant a tree? A hundred years ago. What’s the second best time to plant a tree? Today.
The same could be said for pubs. The Royal Hotel Queanbeyan turns 100 this year, while a new pub in Googong is just getting started.
The hotel was most recently sold in 2010 to Anthony McDonald, who told Region he had enjoyed learning more about the history in preparation for a centenary celebration.
“It’s an irreplaceable pub. Sometimes you just gotta sit back and reflect and think about how lucky we are,” he said.
“Can you imagine building a pub this big in 1926? And it still holds the same position in the community as it did back then. There were some decades when it was perhaps more recognised for fights between some of Queanbeyan’s more troubled characters! But we’ve fixed that and for the last 17 years since we’ve been involved it’s been much better.”
A full page spread celebrated the opening of the newly refurbished Royal Hotel in 1969. Image: National Library of Australia/Trove.
The Royal Hotel has had a storied history. Local elections were declared on the balcony of this establishment, floods and fires ravaged the building (which was rebuilt, remodelled and repaired several times), and countless weddings and celebrations have been held.
The Sydney Morning Herald dedicated a full page to the reopening of the refurbished space in 1969. A ‘woman’s eye’ analysed the new furnishings, a TV celebrity was spotted, and local businesses touted their wares: “Take a close look at the Royal’s new carpet: we supplied it.”
Chef Wayne Alger has been working at The Royal for more than a year now, and has been working on a sold-out centenary ball’s menu that recreates dishes served 100 years ago.
“We’ve recreated the original menu from the first function at the Royal Hotel. I had to do a little bit of reading about the dishes … It’s a really old-school menu with techniques that haven’t been used for a long time.”
This piece was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 27 February 1926 and details the moment when the licence was granted for a hotel in Queanbeyan. Image: National Library of Australia/Trove.
He’s also busily preparing the kitchens for the new Googong Hotel, which is slated to open in October. The new hotel will have a downstairs bistro focusing on pub classics using great ingredients. There will be a display cabinet for the beef which will become steaks, locally made fresh pasta will be on the menu, and all the burgers will be made in-house.
They’ve also imported two huge rotisserie ovens from France which hold around 60 chickens each!
“I remember when I was a kid going to the charcoal chicken shop and then heading down to the park with Mum and Dad for a picnic. There’s a park just across from the new place, so I’d love to bring that back and get people coming in for a good chicken, seasoned well, with great sides.”
Upstairs will host a Chinese restaurant serving classic Australian-Chinese dishes such as honey chicken, Mongolian lamb and beef in black bean, but with a more modern sensibility. Wayne told Region he was working with some excellent chefs to bring that vision to life.
Anthony hopes the new venue will become a part of the fabric of Googong, much like the Royal Hotel has in Queanbeyan. And maybe even stand for another hundred years!
The Googong Hotel will be located at Lot 3 Glenrock Drive, Googong, NSW. It’s hoped it will open in October.
The Royal Hotel Queanbeyan is located at 85 Monaro Street, Queanbeyan, NSW and is open seven days a week. Follow The Royal Hotel on Facebook or Instagram.
