Peninsula's Past: Looking back at Peninsula pubs

SOURCES: History Redcliffe, The Pictorial History of Redcliffe and the Moreton Bay Region.

Main photo: Hotel Scarborough. Courtesy of City of Moreton Bay RLPC 000 000156

The Redcliffe Peninsula has long been a popular place to enjoy a drink, with hotels becoming a fixture in prime waterfront locations from the late 1870s.

It came more than 50 years after first European settlement in 1824, and the settlement’s move to Brisbane the following year, and followed the opening of the first school in 1876.

The Scarborough Hotel was the first hotel to be built on the Peninsula with an influx of residents buying subdivided land marketed as a seaside paradise.

It was built on land bought by Stuart Mein and William Edward Murphy in 1878. Its licence was held by three different proprietors between then and 1883 when it was taken over by William Walsh and renamed Bayview Hotel.

From 1927-1933, Fred Herbert owned the hotel, unveiling plans for a new Hotel Scarborough – a two-storey brick and concrete building with theatre and ballroom.

Extensive “alterations and additions” to “turn the building into a modern structure” were reported in the Brisbane Courier in March 1933.

The hotel was a landmark at the corner of Landsborough Ave and Rock St until it closed in 2009 and was demolished in 2014. It is now an apartment complex.

The Redcliffe Hotel, now The Ambassador of Redcliffe, opened in 1881. It was a popular venue with hordes of people arriving every weekend from Brisbane by steamer.

The hotel changed hands several times, and by 1892 the new landlord was Mr Granville who undertook extensive renovations. In 1908, the hotel changed hands again and the proprietor was Mrs Tappolet.

Laura MacDonald took over as licensee in May 1926 and commenced more alterations, which included re-modelling and re-furnishing the hotel to make it one of the most up to date seaside hotels in the whole of Queensland.

The hotel’s evolution has continued through to present day and it remains a popular venue overlooking Moreton Bay.

St Leonards Hotel was built in 1883 at the corner of Gayundah Esp and Lilla St, Woody Point. Its name was changed to Great Western Hotel in about 1886 and it was destroyed by fire in 1907. The hotel was rebuilt in 1909 and named the Palace.

It changed hands many times before being leased in 1926 by Harold and Lily Filmer who bought it the following year. They named it Filmer’s Palace Hotel.

Their son Ken and his wife Mavis managed the venue from 1952, introducing floor shows and live bands, including the Bee Gees.

Mavis sold the hotel in 2002, when she retired, but a devastating fire sealed its fate in 2013. The site will soon be home to an apartment development.

In 1901, Thomas and Mary Snook bought a boarding house at Woody Point and converted it into a hotel, naming it The Belvidere Hotel. The spelling was later changed to Belvedere and slight alterations were made to it as the venue changed hands, such as Hook’s Belvedere Hotel and Jeffs’ Belvedere Hotel.

The venue has had many owners and renovations throughout its history, and is today one of the Peninsula’s premier hospitality destinations.

The Moreton Bay Hotel (later known as The Bayview Hotel) opened in 1901 at 75 Redcliffe Pde (corner Baker St), with the licence held by Eleanor Underhill from 1901-07.

A new hotel was built in the 1960s, with the original moved to Redcliffe Showgrounds and used as a clubhouse by the Redcliffe Rugby League Football Club and later purchased by Mousetrap Theatre.

High-profile proprietors and managers included Wallabies Captain Bill McLean (1950) and rugby league legend Arthur Beetson in the early 1980s.

The venue closed in 2013.