Historic Norman Hotel marks 125 years
SHE’S survived floods and fire, now this Brisbane dame is about to celebrate a milestone birthday. Can you guess her age?
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SHE has been through economic highs and lows, survived floods and fire, and this month the Norman Hotel will celebrate an impressive milestone.
The vision of Robert Heaslop, the Woolloongabba pub was built in 1889 during a boom period for South Brisbane and Woolloongabba.
Perched on the corner of Ipswich Rd and Qualtrough St, the heritage-listed hotel was Heaslop’s pride and joy until he sold it to the Perkins & Co brewing company in 1900.
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The pub changed hands over the years and remained relatively unchanged until the Cavill family transformed it into a steak-lovers heaven in the late 1980s.
Long-time staff member Debbie Walk has worked at the Norman for about 18 years and said the pub had many stories to tell, including a ghost story.
“When we had the old kitchen and the renovations upstairs hadn’t been done yet, we had a ghost, I think it was one of the old publicans,” she said.
“Since it’s been done up though I personally haven’t sensed it.”
While the ghost may be gone, Ms Walk said there were still plenty of regular patrons at the pub.
“There are so many, we have regulars that come in all the time. I’ve struck up quite a friendship with a lot of them,” she said.
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Norman Hotel manager Andrew Ford said Brisbane’s ‘Worst Vegetarian Restaurant’ served two herds of cattle a week to hungry patrons, or about 200,000 steaks a year.
He said while a cold beer was the top choice, the trend for cider and craft beer was showing no signs of stopping.
“Two years ago we had two craft beers on tap, now we have six. It’s all about changing to (meet) customer needs,” he said.
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