Eric’s Bar in Sydney named after sailor who lost his brothel madam fiancee

The legend behind the grief-stricken ghost of Harrington St, who had a hotel bar named after him, is a bittersweet romance involving a merchant seafarer and a brothel madam.

If you’ve ever had a drink at Eric’s Bar on the ground floor of the Harbour Rocks Hotel MGallery in Sydney, you may have wondered who Eric was. You may have even ordered an Eric’s Elixir off the cocktail menu in the restored heritage hotel and pondered his link to the building’s 130-odd year history.

The answer could be more surprising than you think – Eric was not a past owner or a once-cherished guest of the hotel. In fact it is not known whether he even stepped foot in the building. But his bittersweet love story, which reads like a Shakespearean tragedy, has been embraced by the hotel.

We know that Eric was a 19th century merchant seafarer who frequented the brothels along Harrington St, The Rocks, in the late 1880s next to where the modern-day hotel stands.

It was during one of these visits that he met and fell in love with the brothel madam, the suitably-named Scarlett.

The story goes that Eric would visit Scarlett after his many overseas voyages bearing gifts and trinkets from his travels and a proposal for marriage. For years Eric made the proposal and every time, Scarlett denied him.

The Harbour Rocks Hotel MGallery includes Eric’s Bar, named after a heartbroken sailor.

But then came the day when as Eric was preparing to head off on a three-month voyage to South America, he received the answer he so wanted – Scarlett said yes.

Eric and Scarlett were said to have danced and laughed together down Harrington St that day. And shortly afterwards, Eric ventured off again, leaving behind a happy Scarlett.

There was no way for him to discover while he was at sea that just days after their tearful farewell, Scarlett became sick with tuberculosis and died.

On Eric’s return the happy groom-to-be went straight from the docks at either Sydney Cove or the wharves at Woolloomooloo, where the international trade ships docked, to Scarlett’s brothel.

The news of Scarlett’s passing had a devastating effect on Eric and he is said to have fallen into a deep depression, barely eating. Weeks later, Eric died, many say of a broken heart.

The story of Eric and Scarlett is perhaps as colourful as that of the building which today houses one of MGallery’s best hotels. It was originally constructed as a storage warehouse in 1887 on land that had once been part of the gardens for Sydney’s first tent hospital.

When a permanent hospital was created on Macquarie St in 1816, the land on Harrington St was used as a quarry and then 10 slum terraces were built there.

Sydney solicitor George Evans bought part of the land in 1884 and demolished the terraces a year later.

Eric's Bar at the Harbour Rocks Hotel MGallery. Picture: Supplied

In 1887, Evans constructed a large building intended to work as four separate store warehouses, each with its own loading dock and rear-lane hoists using stone extracted from Sydney quartz mines. The facade is still much the same today, showing the four individual semicircular peaks, a signature of the building.

At the time it was constructed, Evans no doubt bet on the continued prosperity Sydney had experienced through population growth and wealth from the gold rush, which started in the 1850s. Waves of immigration had pushed the population of Sydney and its suburbs to around 325,000 by 1881.

But 1890 signalled the start of a depression and Evans Stores suffered years of vacancy interspersed with tenants who used it as a gas meter manufacturer, barracks for the unemployed during the depression of the 1890s, a broom factory, chemist and druggists, sheep shearing machinery manufacturer and, in the latter part of the 20th century, offices and an art gallery.

It was saved from demolition in the 1970s and redeveloped as a hotel in 1989. In 2012 it was again redeveloped, this time to show off the original brickwork, sandstone and beams, and added to the MGallery Collection of hotels.

Eric’s ghost is said to still wander the street outside the hotel in his bowler hat, long coat and umbrella, holding flowers, looking for Scarlett.

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DEADLY TOLL OF TUBERCULOSIS

With no immunity against disease and no real remedy until well into the 20th century, people were susceptible to all forms of disease. The first real outbreak of tuberculosis in Sydney came in 1805 and resulted in the death of many.

Tuberculosis is a disease which predominantly affects the lungs. Its symptoms include reddened cheeks, fever, loss of appetite and a persistent cough, which in the latter stages results in a bloody mucus.

In 1882, Dr Robert Koch discovered the bacteria which causes TB, which led to the first vaccines created in the 1920s.

CAN YOU DIE OF A BROKEN HEART?

It sounds the stuff of country and western songs, but it is actually possible to die of a broken

heart. What’s more, research has shown your risk of death is heightened in the 30 days after losing a loved one or experiencing a tragic event.

The issue is essentially the stress that grief places on your heart, generally increasing your heart rate and blood pressure and making your heart work harder.

There’s even a term for it – Taktsubo cardiomyopathy – or heartbreak syndrome.

So it is possible poor Eric died of a broken heart when he lost his beloved Scarlett.