Feature
Darryl Stewart
Troy and Amanda Bomphrey
outside the historic
Cumberland Hotel, where a
rusty ute from the 1960s has
sat idle for years.
HE local pub – the soul
T of a community or a
thing of the past?
Last drinks
As many pubs in
Ballarat undertake vast
and expensive redevelopments
in order to survive, it seems the
traditional pubs are in danger of
becoming nothing more than a
memory.
The romantic notion of a single
for the local?
publican standing behind his bar
is fast becoming a thing of the
past, with the majority of hotels
instead opting to almost become
entertainment centres.
Playgrounds, game rooms,
lavish beer gardens and function
centres are almost standard –
not to mention the common
Once the home to almost 500 pubs, Ballarat presence of poker machines and
the seemingly obligatory TAB
has seen many hotels disappear over the betting outlet.
Very few pubs can survive
years. But those that remain are still boasting purely off the sales of a cold beer
nowadays. Publicans say they
need to adapt to a society where
their individual charms or are busy reinventing the majority seek quality meals
and lavish environments as the
themselves. Pat Nolan finds out how. norm.
For some publicans, it is viewed
as the sad demise of traditional
hotels, while others are seeing the
new opportunities as a chance for
great business opportunity.
One such pub that is bucking
the trend is the Millers Arms –
arguably Ballarat’s oldest style
40 – Saturday, November 24, 2012
Brian Smith, publican Darryl
hotel.
There is no TAB, no pokies and
you can’t even order a meal.
There is a front bar, which is
normally inhabited at all hours
throughout the day, and a rear
room for darts and pool.
There is no glitz or glamour,
and that is how it is going to stay.
As publican Darryl Stewart
says: “If you want to eat you have
four choices – chicken, plain,
salt and vinegar, or honey soy
(chips)”.
The only pub in Ballarat to
resist turning its attention to
serving meals, Mr Stewart said
it was sad to see so many pubs
move away from the traditional
corner bar.
“The local pub is dying. For
most of them it just isn’t possible
to survive,” he said.
“In reality, you have to get
bigger and bring in all the other
things or wear the sacrifices
yourself.”
For Mr Stewart, those sacrifices
include devoting almost his time
to the pub he loves, something he
has done for nine years.
He lives upstairs at the corner
venue and works almost 100
hours a week.
Running the pub with his
wife Sue, the couple rarely get to
spend much time away together.
Hiring paid staff is not an
option, because there is a steely
determination for the pub to
remain the last of its kind in
Ballarat.
“It was built as a corner pub
and that is how it’s going to stay,”
said Mr Stewart.
“You’ve got to know your
people. Someone might have
taken his overalls off and left his
wallet at home. You give him a 50
(dollars) because you know he
will give it back to you the next
day. Most pubs don’t do that these
days.”
The Doveton Street North
venue might not rake in money
from pokies or lure visitors in
with a TAB, but its customers stop
by for “what a pub should be”.
On a typical Wednesday, when
The Courier paid a visit, about 20
people lined the bar at 4pm.
There was no music playing
and no races in the background,
just the sound of voices.
Down one end of the bar sat a
group of wealthy businessmen.
Down the other was 92-year-
old Tommy Buckland, a veteran
publican who demised what had
happened with modern pubs.
“They just aren’t what they used
to be,” he said.
In one of the corners sat the
renowned Wrex Griffin, a daily
visitor to the bar for the past 30
years.
pours another
cold one at the
Millers Arms.
Although he only stays for
about 45 minutes at a time,
everybody knows that once Wrex
arrives, the corner seat that has
been his for the past 20 years
better be empty.
“If they do sit there, they will be
politely asked to leave,” Wrex said
with a laugh.
“There are no pubs around like
this anymore. There are no pokies
to rip you off, the races aren’t
“To compete and survive, you have to
renovate these days – you just have to.”
blaring in the background. Not to
mention the beer is perfect.”
One of only five pubs in Ballarat
to never change its name, Mr
Stewart said he had no intention
of ever letting the Millers Arms
become anything other than
what it is today, regardless of what
others were doing.
“We are a country pub in the
middle of town. Others might be
bowing to the pressure. It takes
hard work not to, but that is what
will happen,” he said.
There are also a number of
country pubs outside of Ballarat
that are resisting change.
Although, to them, the pressure
to change is not quite so severe.
For the owners of the
Cumberland Hotel in Smeaton, it
is all about keeping it as simple as
possible.
Amanda and Troy Bomphrey
have seen a number of country
pubs in their area fall by the
wayside.
The Dean, Kingston and
Newlyn pubs have all closed their
doors, as has Blampied’s Swiss
Mountain Hotel.
Yet, somehow, Smeaton’s
watering hole has survived.
“It’s all about cold beer and pub
grub, it’s that simple,” said Mrs
Bomphrey.
The couple has owned the
pub for 18 months, resurrecting
it after it had been closed for six
months.
“A lot of the pubs around here
tried to over complicate it, but we
don’t think that’s what people out
here want,” she said.
There is just one beer on tap at
the Cumberland Hotel, which has
existed since 1860.
For the Bomphreys, former
farmers from Newlyn, running
the pub has become a lifestyle –
one they want to maintain for as
long as possible.
“We’re not breaking any
records, but we’re not struggling
either,” said Mrs Bomphrey.
“People out here like it simple
and that’s the way we want to
keep it.”
However, for most pubs in
Ballarat, change is inevitable.
It is not a temptation – it is what
must happen in order to survive.
The Bunch of Grapes on
Pleasant Street underwent a
multi-million dollar renovation
last year that saw it transformed
from a humble watering hole (not
dissimilar to the Millers Arms) to
a hive of activity.
The Robin Hood Hotel also re-
opened a few months ago, having
made the vast transformation
from quaint local to classy dining
venue.
Bunch of Grapes office
manager Lee Bartholomew said
it was a matter of adapting or
perishing.
While it is important to
keep regulars and traditional
mainstays satisfied, she says
the reality is that having a small
group come in for an hour or two
every day doesn’t pay the bills.
Saturday, November 24, 2012 – 165
BE
Stewart and Tom Buckland
at the Millers Arms.
The pool table at the
Cumberland Hotel.
The Bunch of Grapes’s
Lee Bartholomew and
Wayne Crooks.
“To compete and survive, you
have to renovate these days – you
just have to,” she said.
“We want it to stay a place
where the regulars still want to
come. In many ways, that still
happens.
“Every Friday, you walk past
and it’s the same tradies having
the same parma every week.”
Ms Bartholomew said the
owner of the Bunch of Grapes,
Stephen Bryant, had also recently
purchased the Golf House Hotel
in Doveton Street North and had
similar renovation plans.
“I think pubs these days need
to be family-orientated. If you
don’t appeal to the families, you
are going to be in a fair bit of
trouble.”
Overall, there is no doubt the
face of Ballarat pubs in general is
changing.
For a town that once had 477
hotels in the 1800s, the range is
bound to be diverse.
There is no doubt many pubs
are heading in the same direction
– they feel they have to.
But you can bet that no matter
how much other pubs change,
the humble Miller Arms will be
a pub for the traditionalists for a
long time to come.
patrick.nolan@thecourier.com.au