14. Romsey Hotel

The Romsey Hotel was first licensed in 1860. Featuring parapet and stucco construction, it was built in two stages which were possibly united in the mid 1870s. This hotel was well located for the Romsey Stock Market which was located on the corner of Murphy and Pohlman Streets.

In 1873, then licensee Lachlan Robertson advertised his hotel in the Lancefield Examiner (11th September) thus: “The proprietor begs to intimate to his numerous friends that he has always on hand superior assortments of wines and spirits and fermented drinks of the best quality, and being the oldest established hotel in the
township needs no guarantee of the first-class accommodation obtainable. Ample and commodious stabling, loose boxes etc.”

The hotel provided a room functioning as a courtroom until the Stawell Street Courthouse was built in 1888. In its latter years as a hotel, it faced strong competition from other local hotels and was increasingly reliant on illegal after hours bartrade. During World War II, when fears were high of a Japanese invasion, the hotel’s name was prized off the external wall “in case the enemy came”. The hotel license was surrendered in 1944.