Licensing Court 1956 hearings

The Licensing Court 1956 hearings examined the license of six Ballarat hotels.

The hearings

The hearings were conducted in Ballarat into six hotels by Judge Fraser in January and February 1956. He was not impressed with what he saw describing one hotel, the Plough and Harrow, as being like a horse bazaar.

The Argus newspaper reported Judge Fraser's comments:

HOTEL "LIKE HORSE BAZAAR" - says judge who saw it. A BALLARAT hotel he inspected on January 13 looked like Kirk's Horse Bazaar, Judge Fraser said in the Licensing court yesterday. Judge Fraser said the Plough and Harrow Hotel was a disgrace, with rooms dirty and all cluttered up. Police opposed the renewal of the licences of six Ballarat hotels - most of them historic landmarks - in the Licensing Court yesterday. The hotels are:

• Atlantic
• Commonwealth
• Essex
• Globe
• Plough and Harrow
• Sir Henry Barkly

Police claimed the hotels were :

• Ruinous and dilapidated.
• Not flt to continue as licensed premises, and
• Accommodation and service were, not up to required standard.

Mr. D. M. Campbell. Q.C., (for the owners) told the Court Ballarat was "chock a-block" with hotels. He asked Judge Fraser to adjourn the application for renewal from the Atlantic and Globe hotels so that the licence of one could be surrendered. Mr. Campten (for the Atlantic licensee) said the Atlantic was in a residential area and employees from four industrial firms relied on it. Both hotels are owned by a brewery who claimed the Globe was in a shopping area and the better of the two.
Responsibility

After representatives had argued which was the better hotel for nearly an hour; Judge Fraser, asked the owners: "Why should the Court be put in a position to decide? Why shouldn't you have the responsibility and not the Court?" After the owners had held a private conference, Judge Fraser renewed the Globe Hotel's licence and adjourned the Atlantic Hotel's application until May 29. Repairs costing £2,000 will be made to the Globe Hotel. Judge Fraser said he would not renew the Commonwealth Hotel and the Sir Henry Barkly Hotel licences because they were not in a fit condition. He had inspected the Plough and Harrow Hotel on January 13 and it "looked just like Kirk's Horse Bazaar." "The rooms are dirty and all cluttered up. The place is a disgrace, the kitchen is smaller than one in a private home," Judge Fraser added. He adjourned the application until March 14 to get a "constructive and concrete" plan of the proposed repairs to the hotel. The Court renewed the Hotel Essex's licence.