The claim
A Collins Street pub whose licence goes back to Hobart's first handful of public houses, granted as the New Inn in 1818 and soon renamed the Ship. In 1882 the original corner building gave way to a bank and the business moved next door into its own billiard room. Today it's a modern bar with rooms upstairs.
What the records show
A licence was granted to Thomas L. Richardson on 3 October 1818 for the New Inn, known as the Ship Inn by 1821. That date rests on one pub historian's reading of the Hobart records; we have not seen the licence itself. The Tasmanian Heritage Register lists 73 Collins Street as the Ship Hotel and reads the standing building as an Old Colonial Georgian public house behind a Federation front of about 1900. The two accounts disagree about the walls: the register sees early colonial work behind a 1900 front, while the pub history has the corner house demolished in 1882 and trade moving next door into the inn's own billiard room, rebuilt in 1923. Either way the licence is much older than anything now standing. The pub historian is Mick Roberts, who writes the Time Gents history of Australian hotels; he gives no archive reference for the 1818 and the newspaper accounts he works from are not agreed, the Launceston Examiner in 1882 having the house first opened as the Ship Hotel in 1819.
| Year | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1818 | Claimed founding | Local history |
| c.1923 | Present building | Building fabric |
| 1818 | First record of a drinking house here | Mick Roberts of Time Gents, on a licence of 3 October 1818 |
What to look for inside
- One of Hobart's first 15 licensed public houses
- Coaches to New Norfolk and Launceston once left from the original inn
- An 1877 newspaper was found in a wall cavity after a 1953 fire
- Added to Time Gents' '200 Club' list in 2026
Visiting
Central Hotel is in Hobart, Australia, at 73 Collins Street, Hobart TAS. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- timegents.com/2014/11/15/the-ship-inn-hobart/
- timegents.com/2025/01/21/australias-rare-200-club-pubs-that-have-been-around-since-1825-or-more/
- onlineregister.heritage.tas.gov.au/Place/2244
- thr-public-datasheets.heritage.tas.gov.au/Report_Handler.ashx?heritagePlaceID=2244
- www.treasury.tas.gov.au/liquor-and-gaming/liquor/community-information/liquor-licence-data
Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
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