Royal Hotel Gatton

After a really good night out in Toowoomba we headed off, admittedly with slightly bleary heads, we headed off for our next stop at the Royal Hotel Gatton.

Firstly I will admit that we were slightly distracted for our visit to Gatton. We found out over breakfast that our AirBnB in Brisbane for Saturday night had been cancelled with zero explanation. So much of the time at Gatton was spent with Bert, John, and I all individually staring at our phones trying to find alternate accommodation. We did end up sorting it out, but it was distracting at the time.

So that disclaimer aside, the Royal Hotel Gatton was a decent, if a bit meh of a pub. As we walked up to the pub, there did seem to be a bit of an emphasis on the ‘gaming’ side of the pub’s offering. The big signs out the front said ‘Drink, Play, Stay’. We only had interest in one of those three, but we proceeded all the same.

As we walked in the front door, it was immediately clear that other patrons had those options ranked in a different order. The first person we encountered was an elderly lady who immediately and unprompted informed us that ‘The Keno is broken’ before the door had fully closed behind us. And indeed, the Keno did appear to be blank (not that we had any reason to doubt old Keno lady). But, as this was one of those Royals we hit firmly in the A.M. hours, there weren’t all that many other people in the pub. And those that were did seem quite concerned with the Keno status.

I think we offered some cursory Keno-related comments in solidarity with the other half-dozen people in the pub. But then we headed to the bar. As luck would have it, the Royal Hotel Gatton is on the same app that we first encountered in Essendon. So not only did we get a discount on our beers, but we got to use that extra 50 cents we had left over from those Essendon schooners.

The emphasis I’ve put on the gaming aspects of the pub might be a little bit unfair. While the gambling parts of the pub were pretty front and centre, it wasn’t one of those soulless pubs. Equally you wouldn’t describe it as having a ton of character, but it genuinely wasn’t a bad pub.

There were some massive screens that would’ve been really good on a night with a big game. And there was a decent looking pool table set up as well. So it definitely wasn’t the worst Royal we’ve been to. But equally, it wasn’t a standout. And, it may have been one that suffered for having us visit in the morning. But I do feel like we got a pretty decent read on it.

It was far from the worst Royal we’ve been to. And if this was your local, it would certainly do the job for a good place to watch a game or have a hit of pool. But seeing as how 2 of our last 3 pubs were Leyburn and Meandarra, it was pretty evident that it fell a bit short of those lofty standards.

And so, with our worries about the Brisbane accommodation now put to rest and a schooner under our belts we headed off to the next pub on the tour. And, by the way, they had managed to fix the Keno by the time we left in case you were wondering.

Royal Stats

• Town/Suburb: Gatton, QLD
• Population: 7,851
• Date Visited: Saturday, April 5, 2025
• Visited By: Cory, John and Bert
• Beer Sponsorship on Sign: None
• Beer Consumed at Pub: XXXX Gold
• Price of Schooner of Said Beer: $7.00
• Unique Award: Royal Most in Need of Keno Maintenance
• Tour Progress: 64.4% (87/135)