Atlantic Hotel: A great watering hole

Have you ever heard of the Atlantic Hotel in Gympie? Do you know where it was? You might be surprised...

BACK IN TIME: A street parade trails past the Atlantic Hotel in October 1910. Picture: Contributed

THE former Atlantic Hotel, on the corner of Monkland and Mary Sts, has been part of the Mary St streetscape since 1882.

Now home to Mama & Papa's Pizzeria, one report suggests the building standing there now was designed by local and prominent architect Hugo Durietz in 1905.

However, the first Atlantic Hotel licence was issued in 1882 and no information can be found about the original building's demise which led to a rebuild in 1905.

Sitting in the swollen Mary River's path, the building's feet would have been wet more than once over the years.

But the sturdy brick construction probably tolerated the regular soakings more than most buildings.

The brick structure was also armour against the fury of flames that swallowed countless wooden pubs, so it is possible the current building is the original 1882 construction.

It still has gutters, eaves brackets and a cantilevered upper level veranda typical of the era.

After years of trading as the Atlantic Hotel, in 1983 Selwyn and Maria Davy took over the licence and changed the name to Charlies Hotel in 1985; a name indicative of the Charlie Chaplin theme in the carvery.

In the same year, the Gympie Liquor World bottle shop was built behind the hotel in the former Gympie Carworld site.

Gympie experienced one of its worst floods in years in 1992.

RISKY BUSINESS: Charlie's Hotel publican Scott Davy (front) in the bottle shop, which is still prone to Mary River flooding. Picture: Contributed

Peaking at 21.40m, the flood submerged Charlies Hotel and entered the bottle shop.

Seven years later, the 1999 flood, which reached a height of 23.95m, again filled the hotel and entered the bottle shop.

The two events in the same decade inspired the Davy family to move the licence to Nash St after the second flood, where Charlies Hotel still thrives today.

Scott Davy, son of Selwyn and Maria took over management of the hotel after the move.

He has witnessed many changes over the years and looks back fondly on the days when pubs were a place where people congregated after work.

"Hotels and bars were so much busier," Mr Davy said.

"A lot of small crop picking in the region meant thriving afternoon trade in the town and bars were full of activity."

Mr Davy would love to see some of the old history preserved.

"It would be good to have a lot of the old businesses restored to their former glory to really reflect on Gympie's gold mining past," he said.

These days, hotels are more family orientated, Mr Davy said, and Charlies Hotel provides lunch and dinner specials in a relaxed atmosphere.