Sunday, August 14, 2011

Hotels vs hotels

When we first moved here we were a little confused by the difference between a hotel and a hotel that is not a hotel, but is actually a pub.  Even reading that sentence is confusing! 

The hotels that are actually hotels (there are rooms for rent, plus possibly a lounge or breakfast area) are called hotels.  The Sofitel, Radisson, and various other chains and boutique hotels are exactly what one thinks of when ones asks "where is a good place to stay in Brisbane?"  The other hotels are the confusing ones.  These are hotels that were built in the 1800s and early 1900s as hotels, but have since been turned into pubs.  The confusing part is that they are still called hotels!   Luckily TripAdvisor and other booking websites have no trouble telling these types of hotels apart.  We have not heard of anyone booking a week in a pub (although we know a few who have spent a week in a pub.)

Last week we blogged about the post-flood recovery at the Regatta Hotel.  The Regatta may have once been a hotel where people rented rooms, but now it is all pub.  At the base of the Story Bridge, on Kangaroo Point, is the Story Bridge Hotel, also a pub.  When we first got here we couldn't figure out why there were all these little hotels in strange places, but now we know: they are actually pubs.

Story Bridge Hotel

Story Bridge

The Story Bridge Hotel was built in 1886 in Kangaroo Point.  Before the bridge (photo above) connected Kangaroo Point to the rest of the CBD, the Story Bridge Hotel was just a pub in the middle of nowhere, probably in a fairly rough part of the city.  By the 1980s, it was re-furbished and a vital part of the Kangaroo Point suburb.  From the front it looks like a fairly small building, but there is a courtyard, a sit-down restaurant and a pub all on the main level, plus seating upstairs.  All the hotels (pub-hotels) are like this...small-ish looking from the outside but massive on the inside.  We have learned that the best thing to do when coming across an unfamiliar one, is to just go in.  It is never a disappointment!

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