Royal Hotel Tingha

After departing the Guyra with full bellies, we headed about 45 minutes up the road to our next destination: the Royal Hotel Tingha.

However, when we arrive at Tingha, disaster. The pub was covered in scaffolding and behind chainlink fencing. It was clearly under renovation. After the shemozzle of a start to the trip we’d had, this was the last thing we needed. We pulled over while I frantically tried to do some on-the-fly logistics. But in the end it looked like we were just going to have to head on to the next stop in Inverell.

So we loaded back in the car and departed. But as we were dejectedly heading back past the pub on our way out of town, John cried out “There are people drinking in there!”. I will admit that I did not at first believe him. But Bert backed him up so I turned the car around and pulled over. John jumped out to go have a word with the construction workers out front. And lo and behold, Bert and John were right, the pub was open. You just had to go round through the back beer garden to get access.

So around the back we went. And, after pushing through a couple of difficult to open doors that made us question whether or not the construction guy out front was actually just messing with us, we made it in to the pub.

The pub itself was pretty basic. And it was predictably quiet given that it was early arvo on a weekday and given the deterrent effect of the scaffolding out front. It was a pretty standard country Royal as well. The inside looked like it hadn’t been done up for a while (maybe that’s next after they finished the outside). But it wasn’t an unpleasant place for a beer.

There was a typical front bar with corrugated metal and everything. And in the back area there was your typical pool table plus a kids corner, and a corner/mini stage for musical entertainment. None of it looked particularly well-used, but again that could be largely down to the construction.

Probably the most noteworthy thing about the Royal Hotel Tingha is the local rugby league club it supports, the Tingha Tigers. I had actually heard of it before as a club of some renown having produced a number of NRL players.Those players included Nathan Blacklock, Owen Craigie, and Bevan French. But foremost among them was my personal favourite player of all time, Preston Campbell.

He is the reason I decided to be a Sharks supporter when I first came to Australia. Even if he did leave the Sharks a few years later. Given Preston’s club movements later in his career, I suppose if I would have come to Australia at a different time, I might have been a Panthers supporter and saved myself a fair bit of heartache. Or a Titans supporter, which would have significantly increased the heartache.

But I digress. The point is Preston Campbell is awesome.

So we relaxed with a few schooners of old and breathed a sigh of relief that we did actually find our way in. Otherwise we would’ve had to schedule in a special trip to come back post renovations.

But soon enough, it was time to hit the road again. Even though we had probably spent roughly the same amount of time inside the pub as we did trying to figure out how to get inside. So, after one more salute to Preston, we headed off back through the difficult to open, unmarked doors we had come through and back to the car to continue on up to Inverell.

Royal Stats

• Town/Suburb: Tingha, NSW
• Population: 833
• Date Visited: Friday, August 8, 2025
• Visited By: Cory, John, and Bert
• Beer Sponsorship on Sign: None
• Beer Consumed at Pub: Toohey’s Old
• Price of Schooner of Said Beer: $8.00
• Unique Award: Royal We Almost Didn’t Go In
• Tour Progress: 68.9% (93/135)