Royal Hotel Mendooran
The Royal Hotel Tambar Springs was going to be a tough one to beat. But we were certainly game to give it a crack. So we headed south, through the town of Binnaway with its former, but now closed Royal Hotel. And eventually we arrived at the Royal Hotel Mendooran.
Full disclosure: we were a bit distracted for this pub visit as we were almost completely out of petrol and the petrol stations in both Binnaway and Mendooran were closed. There was genuine concern the fumes we had left wouldn’t be sufficient to get us to the nearest petrol station. So we probably didn’t give this pub the full attention it deserved. But we weren’t totally consumed by our predicament.
We coasted into the small town of Mendooran and quickly found our destination. It was the big pink or red or orange building on the corner. The Royal Hotel Mendooran is one of those big old classic concrete pubs with a great upstairs veranda. But its colour isn’t the easiest to pin down. It’s a bit like how Uluru looks a different colour depending on the time of day.
I stood outside admiring the facade (and trying to decide what shade I was going to describe it as) for a little while before eventually heading inside. There I found John locked in a humorous (for me at least) and entirely circular conversation with the locals at the bar.
John: “Where is the nearest petrol station?”
Locals: “Which way are you going?”
John: “To the nearest petrol station. Where is that?”
Locals: “Well that depends which way you’re going”
And so on and so forth for at least 10 minutes. Eventually we got ourselves some schooners and headed out back to google where to get petrol.
We eventually figured out that doubling back via Gilgandra was our best bet for fuel. So with that matter settled, we were able to settle into our beers. It was a gloriously sunny day and a great day to be hanging out in a beer garden. And for early afternoon there was a decent crowd both inside and out. This was one of those Royals that was clearly the town hub.
The beer garden also included some decent looking firepits and a second outdoor bar (corrugated metal of course). All of which indicated to me that this was a place that would get full and fun on a Saturday night. And that wasn’t too far off either. But, unfortunately, we had an uncomfortable drive on fumes/push to get to the nearest petrol station. And that’s assuming John had deciphered the cryptic clues correctly.
So we piled back into the car and set off for the petrol station, and after that, the final Royal of the trip. I do feel bad that we didn’t have the chance to relax into the Royal Hotel Mendooran a bit more. But I feel like, despite our fuel related anxiety, we did still make sure to enjoy the pub and the gloriously sunny day in the beer garden.
Royal Stats
- Town/Suburb: Mendooran, NSW
- Population: 275
- Date Visited: Saturday, June 6, 2026
- Visited By: Cory, John, Ben, and Anthony
- Beer Sponsorship on Sign: Toohey’s New
- Beer Consumed at Pub: Toohey’s New
- Price of Schooner of Said Beer: $8.60
- Unique Award: Royal That Is the Hardest Colour to Describe (for us at least)
- Tour Progress: 84.6% (110/130)