Beacham's Hotel

Beacham's Hotel

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History
Town	Ballarat
Street	Grant Street
Closed	1920
Known dates	1919-1920

Beacham's Hotel was a hotel in Ballarat, Victoria, <1919-1920.

Site

The hotel was in Grant Street.

History

In March 1920 the hotel was one of 31 hotels in the district threatened with de-licensing by the Licenses Reduction Board. The hearings were held in the Ballarat Supreme Court:

BEACHAM’S HOTEL. The next case taken, was that of Beacham’s Hotel, in Grant, street, of which Thos. Freeman is the licensee. Constable Geddes stated that the building was a wooden one. It contained 11 rooms, five of which were bedrooms, and four of these were used by the public. The place was clean, well furnished, well kept, and well conducted, and was in a better position than was the Barley Sheaf Hotel. He was of the opinion that the better trade was done at Beacham’s Hotel, but he did not think the Barley Sheaf Hotel was required. The Grapes Hotel was, in his opinion, required, as the traffic there was much greater. He did not think accommodation was likely to be sought by visitors at Beacham's Hotel. To Mr. Pearson: Beacham's Hotel would be handy for traffic going from east to west along Grant street. To the Chairman : There was no hotel immediately to the south of Beacham’s Hotel. To Mr. Pearson: The licensee had told him that people did at times go to the hotel for meals. He had never heard it said that people who came to Ballarat during holidays had to go to Creswick or Buninyong for accommodation. To the Chairman-: If mining revived, Beacham's Hotel would be more convenient than the Barley Sheaf Hotel. Plain-clothes Constable Morgan said he entirely agreed with the evidence of Constable Geddes. Mr. Pearson : Do you think it possible that there will be a revival of mining? —I do not think so. Why?—Under present conditions no one is likely to put money into mining, for it costs too much to get the gold out. How much do you think it would cost?—About £6 per ounce. Why do you think that?—On account of the deep sinking required. This was the evidence for the police. The Chairman said the hoard was not out to strip a locality so that there would not be reasonable provision for local wants. Thos. Freeman, licensee, of Beacham's hotel, said he had been licensee for 15 months. He had a sitting-room, two parlors, a dining-room, and a room available to the public. There would, be three bedrooms for the public in ordinary circumstances, but he had friends staying at the hotel at present. The hotel was in a thickly populated locality, and he did a fair local trade. Very little outdoor trade was done. He supplied on the average to the public eight or ten beds a month, mostly to people who were week-end visitors, some of them being friends. The property was owned by the Ballarat Brewing Company, and he paid £2 per week on a three years’ lease. Percy Shorten, grocer, carrying on business adjoining Beacham’s hotel, said a good, steady, respectable trade was done at the hotel, which was a great convenience to the public, and was in a thickly populated locality. Albert Edward Mark, laborer, residing in Barkly- street; Golden Point. expressed confidence that mining would revive again in the locality. The board reserved its decision.

The hotel was sold at auction in November 1920 for £385, one of six de-licensed hotels sold by the Ballarat Brewing Company.

The People

• In January 1919 Thomas Freeman took over the hotel license.
• In March 1920 the publican was Thomas Freeman and the owner was the Ballarat Brewing Company.

See also

• Surrey Hotel
• Nag's Head Hotel
• Tam O'Shanter Hotel
• Barley Sheaf Hotel
• Guiding Star Hotel