Royal Hotel Horsham
And so we readied ourselves to depart the pleasant salty confines of Sea Lake. However, the rest of the guys no longer trusted my ability to check pub opening times properly. And it turned out they were right. When we rang our next destination, the Royal Hotel Horsham, we found out that the pub wouldn’t be open until later that night. Which again threw another spanner in our already spanner-filled plans. Lucky for us, the Royal Hotel Horsham is run by an awesome publican who, with a bit of cajoling, agreed to open up for us when we arrived.
So a short 2-hour drive later we found ourselves outside the grand old Royal Hotel Horsham. And true to his word, Grant the publican was there to greet us. And even better, he was there to greet us with a schooner of a local Horsham-brewed IPA. If there’s one thing we love on the tour (other than bespoke signage and Royal merch) it’s a good local beer.
But as good as that beer was, it was nowhere near the best thing about the pub. This was a place that had everything.
According to Grant, his goal was to make the Royal Hotel Horsham into a pub for everyone. And I’ve gotta say, he’s doing a pretty darn good job of just that. The pub is massive with areas for live music (where there had just been a show the night before). There were also areas for pool and a bunch of cool dart boards set up. The beer garden wasn’t green and lush like some we’ve been to, but it still really cool and really comfortable.
Walking through towards the back of the pub, Grant showed us the board where every publican since the opening of the pub in 1881. The local historical society had apparently put in a lot of time and research into the history of the pubs in town. It was a really cool touch that you don’t see in a lot of places.
Further back, past the really nice looking (but regrettably closed) bistro, Grant showed us a huge wall-length mural of a photo of all the residents of Horsham who were about to ship out for World War I. He was actually in the process of trying to identify every person in that photo.
After the tour, we kind of spread out to enjoy the pub. Anthony chatted with Grant at the bar. Jordy set himself up in front of the MotoGP. And John and I had a go at one of the aforementioned cool dart boards.
This was a pub that we intended to stop in for a quick beer before continuing on our way. We ended up having three over a couple of hours. And we easily could’ve stayed longer.
Trying to make a pub ‘for everyone’ is often a recipe for making a bland pub that doesn’t stand out in any way. But that’s certainly not the case here. The care and effort Grant puts into the place is extremely apparent. We went with best historical connections for the unique award, but best Royal publican would probably be in consideration as well. It’s a little while until we update our Top 10 list again. But I have a feeling the Royal Hotel Horsham will feature when we do.
Royal Stats
- Town/Suburb: Horsham, VIC
- Population: 16,289
- Date Visited: Sunday, October 20, 2024
- Visited By: Cory, John, Jordy and Anthony
- Beer Sponsorship on Sign: Carlton Draught
- Beer Consumed at Pub: Bungalally IPA
- Price of Schooner of Said Beer: $12.20
- Unique Award: Best Royal Historical Connections
- Tour Progress: 53.2% (74/139)