Royal Hotel Denman

After a chilly night at the Royal Hotel Capertee, it was time for the Tour to venture on up into the Lower Hunter on a lovely Saturday’s morning to the Royal Hotel Denman. I was still a bit under the weather but I bravely soldiered on. Given that he was more on top of his game at the time, and he has finally returned from galivanting around Europe to pick up the slack from a blog post perspective, John will be taking this one. So please note that all commentary from this point in the post are John’s words. Please direct any dissatisfaction to him directly.

One great thing about going to pubs you don’t know in towns you haven’t heard of, is that my expectations are often pleasantly wrong. Denman was a case in point. A country town of 2000-ish people, the Royal (for reasons unknown) was an absolute beast of a place size wise.

It was the tallest building in town, with the exception of the church, and certainly more fun to be in on a Sunday. It really felt like it could house the entire 2000 Denman-ites, plus two traveling beer nerds if need be. 

The pub itself was quite nicely done, with drinking area and pub grub restaurant inside. It had a good size play area for the kids/drunk idiots outside, with more outdoor tables and chairs. Also had a nice balcony to enjoy the hot days and cold beer. 

Besides the size of the Royal, another size wise surprise was the TV. Not the one in the Royal, but the one diagonally across the road at the Denman Hotel. The TV was big enough to be seen from space (probably) and so was best viewed from the balcony at the Royal, 75 metres away. 

All in all a surprisingly big, well looked after and nicely done Royal. Being there so early in the morning, we didn’t get to meet too many of the locals or get much of a vibe, but even then I’d be happy to find myself there again. 

Royal Stats

• Town/Suburb: Denman, NSW
• Population: 1,789
• Date Visited: Saturday, May 6, 2023
• Visited By: Cory, John
• Beer Sponsorship on Sign: Great Northern
• Beer Consumed at Pub: Toohey’s New
• Price of Schooner of Said Beer: $5.00 (Happy Hour)
• Unique Award: Best View of an Adjacent Pub’s Television
• Tour Progress: 24.2% (33/136)