Royal Hotel Queenscliff
And we’re back. After a couple of excellent posts from John on the Royals at Richmond and Melbourne, I’m back with the next stop on the Tour, the Royal Hotel Queenscliff. We were joined on this stop on the tour by John’s mate Chelsea who met us for some pool and some beers on a lovely Saturday morning.
Right of the bat, it was pretty apparent that this was not a standard Royal. It almost didn’t even look or feel like a pub. From the outside it looked closer to an old town hall than a bar. But jeez it was a cool place for a beer.
The whole place felt like an art gallery on the inside. That’s probably largely due to the fact that it was an art gallery. But it was also a bar. There were paintings and sculptures and fancy furniture and chandeliers. But there were also great beers on tap, an awesome barman, and a free pool table with a giant pair of sunglasses suspended above it.
The mix was a bit odd at first, but it really worked. The place itself was really cool. But the enthusiasm of the barman was really what made the Royal Hotel Queenscliff a place to visit. He was obviously proud of the place, but his emphasis was on wanting us to enjoy it rather than just going around and showing it off.
As cool as the place was, it was apparently still a work in progress. According to our host, the downstairs was being fitted out as a whole separate bar area. And the upstairs was being set up for accommodation (what I can only assume will be very cool and very quirky accommodation).
And even better, the beer was good and it was cheap. There were some local breweries as well (Wolf of the Willows was one that springs to mind). And there were so many unique and interesting parts of the place to sit and drink said beer.
The back garden in particular (with the pool table) was a great place to hang out. Even though the Queenscliff wind was blowing an absolute gale while we were there. But the beer garden wasn’t too bad. And if it got too blustery, we could always wander back through the bar looking at art we couldn’t afford.
But we did spend most of our visit around the pool table. Chelsea’s technique in pool, was fairly unique. From what I could tell, it involved approaching the table as quickly as possible, not appearing to aim at any ball in particular, before finally swiftly pivoting to fire off a rapid shot that a ball that had no idea what was coming. The effectiveness of the strategy was a bit hit and miss, but it certainly kept the games moving quickly.
But after several wanders through the gallery and several games of speedy pool, all too soon, we had to get ready to go. I know I use this phrase often and I know that I often point out that I use this phrase often but, we could have easily stayed all day. We go to a lot of pubs on this tour and this was easily one of the most unique and most enjoyable stops we’ve made. If it’s a standard pub with footy on the TV and a pokie room you’re after, this isn’t your Royal. But if you’re after something different (even just to have a look), I can’t recommend the Royal Hotel Queenscliff highly enough.
Royal Stats
- Town/Suburb: Queenscliff, VIC
- Population: 3,276
- Date Visited: Saturday, February 15, 2025
- Visited By: Cory, John, Rod, and Chelsea
- Beer Sponsorship on Sign: None
- Beer Consumed at Pub: GT Lager
- Price of Schooner of Said Beer: $8.00
- Unique Award: First Royal Art Gallery
- Tour Progress: 57.2% (79/138)