Royal Hotel Springwood

After departing the last of the Sydney Royals in Richmond, we headed west into the Blue Mountains.  As it was just about hitting lunchtime, we arrived at our third Royal for the day: the Royal Hotel Springwood.

The pub is located on the main drag of Springwood directly across from the train station.  And it was actually pretty packed on this Friday arvo.  But there was still plenty of space in both the front bar and back bistro/pool table area where we decided to settle.  It was a pretty nice place with just slight hints that it might tend to get a bit more boisterous as the day progressed. 

For one, you had to barter your ID to get a pool cue.  And there was ample signage indicating a blanket ban on hi-vis clothing after a certain hour.  I may have read too much into it, but that was just the vibe I got.

Pleasingly though, they had the current top ranked craft beer in Australia on tap in Status Quo from Mountain Culture.  Granted it is the geographically closest Royal to Mountain Culture’s Katoomba brewery, but still a welcome sight. And only $8.30 as well. After paying over $10 a schooner (well over in some cases) decidedly more average beer in Sydney, that was an extremely pleasant change.

So we settled in, ordered some burgers and I commenced re-asserting my pool dominance over John (see Singleton, Sutherland, and essentially any other Royal with a pool table).

What neither of us realised is that as we were playing, we were both drinking from the same schooner while the other was shooting.  But you know who did realise?  The old couple at the next table.  The watched and giggled each time we took a drink.  The straight up laughed at us when we finally realised. Not a particularly cool move from the old people of the Blue Mountains. But I can’t honestly say I would’ve done any different had the roles been reversed.

I still contend to this day that it was my schooner and John was drinking from the wrong one.  To which he responded ‘ok fine, it’s yours’ and proceeded to start in on the untouched schooner and leave my mostly empty beer.  I feel I may have won that battle but lost the war.  But I did win the pool game at least.  All of them.  By a fair margin.

All in all, the food was good, the beer was good, and the atmosphere was good.  Not a lot to complain about at Springwood, but somehow it got a bit stuck in the ‘good but not great’ zone.  If I was in the area, I’d definitely go again.  But it’s not one I’d go out of my way to get to again (and there have been a few of those on this tour).

So with bellies full we departed for our next stop on the western side of the mountains.

Editors Note: this was our 30^th Royal on the tour and the next post will be our initial Top Ten Royals list.  We’ll update that after every 10 Royals we do going forward.  So, you know, just a little something extra to look forward to.

Royal Stats

• Town/Suburb: Springwood, NSW
• Population: 8,432
• Date Visited: Friday, May 5, 2023
• Visited By: Cory, John
• Beer Sponsorship on Sign: Cooper’s
• Beer Consumed at Pub: Mountain Culture Status Quo Pale Ale
• Price of Schooner of Said Beer: $8.30
• Unique Award: Royal with the Best Beer on Tap (this may be updated as we progress)
• Tour Progress: 22.1% (30/136)