Sharanne Witt says she was flying by the seat of her pants when she bought the Captains Flat Hotel. Photos: Tenele Conway.
Sharanne Witt, owner of the Captains Flat Hotel, keeps a newspaper clipping behind her bar. Slipped safely inside a plastic sleeve and pulled out when the topic arises, the article has a headline that reads, “She’s a woman among men”. Sharanne is among a group of rare women: as a solo female owner of a classic Aussie country pub, she’s a feisty and brave business owner.
Yet the newsclipping isn’t about her; it’s about her grandmother, Molly Pugh, Australia’s first female butcher, a pilot and a woman who once flew with Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, one of Australia’s fathers of aviation.
With a daughter who is a major in the army, a granddaughter who goes by the nickname ”Bruiser” (at age one, no less) and a family of hard-working women in front of and behind her, Sharanne thinks it may just be genetic.
“I probably get my tenacity from Molly,” Sharanne shares, clearly proud of her pioneering grandmother and strong-willed family.
Just like her grandmother, Sharanne likes to fly by the seat of her pants; that’s how she became the owner of the 1930s pub in the former mining town.
“I really didn’t think about it; my daughter conned me into it. I didn’t do any research. It was in my price range, and I just bought it.”
The newspaper clipping that Sharanne keeps behind the bar and features her grandmother Molly Pugh.
Sharanne’s grandkids refer to the Captains Flat Hotel as ”Grandma’s Big House”, and since she moved into some of the upstairs rooms upon taking over the hotel in June 2024, it’s very much become a house.
“They don’t know it as a pub; it’s just Grandma’s house and they have fun here and play, and they love it.”
Grandma’s big house seems to be somewhat of a magnet for Sharanne’s family. Her sister Jo fell in love with the town, became a part-owner of the pub and also moved in upstairs. And in the coming weeks, Sharanne will be joined in the upstairs rooms by her parents, who are also moving in. There is also a pub dog, named Sully, who I suspect actually runs the place, and a gaggle of children in the form of backpackers who find their way to the country town to live out their rural Australian fantasies working behind a bar.
Jo tells of the people from all around the world who have spent time working behind what used to be the longest bar in the Southern Hemisphere. English, French, Irish, Argentinians; none of them mind that it’s now only the longest bar in New South Wales, having been pipped at the post on the hemisphere claim several years ago.
“We get really mothery; it’s like having more children. When the couple from the Isle of Man left, I blubbered; it was ugly crying,” Jo laughs.
Despite looking like she’s never known any other profession, becoming a publican was never in Sharanne’s life plans. Born in Captains Flat, she actually grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney and she’d been in banking for decades when the sudden decision was made to sell her house and take a risk on a closed-down pub that was very much stuck in the past.
“This place is so iconic; the reason it was scouted for the mini-series was because it was the most original they could find to the era,” Sharanne says.
The mini-series Sharanne refers to, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, stars Jacob Elordi, now an Oscar nominee, and featured extensive scenes filmed in and around the historic pub.
The Captains Flat Hotel didn’t need Elordi to put it on the map, though; Sharanne is a dedicated business owner who balances the locals who keep the lights on and the tourism trade that’s the venue’s bread and butter, as Sharanne puts it.
“We’re really popular as a destination; we get car clubs, motorbike clubs and birthday parties,” she says. ”The rooms are often fully booked on a Saturday night.”
Built in 1938, the Captains Flat Hotel is a classic country pub.
As you might suspect, it isn’t all quiet middies and lazy chats when running a country pub, and despite having no experience and being a little nervous about the prospects of conflict at the pub, Sharanne’s first test came sooner than she hoped, and she surprised herself with her capacity to manage a rowdy crowd.
“It was opening night; we’d had two busy weeks getting ready to open the pub, so I was tired, it was late at night, and I don’t know where the energy and strength came from, but these two guys were fighting out the back, and I grabbed one by the scruff of the neck and broke it up,” Sharanne says.
“I told them, ‘If you’re old enough to drink, you’re old enough to know better; no-one is risking my licence, especially not on opening night.”
Although Sharanne doesn’t think she’ll make her millions with the Captains Flat Hotel, she does have some plans in the pipeline, including a fun little speakeasy enshrouded in red velvet curtains, a place to have a specialty whisky and a cocktail.
While she works on bringing that together, she’s happy taking pride in her day-to-day, a routine that Sharanne says hinges on pouring a bloody good beer and looking after the locals, and despite the learning curve and long days, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Captains Flat Hotel is at 51 Foxlow Street, Captains Flat, and is open five days a week, from Wednesdays to Sundays.
