Pint Passport
Cream rendered hotel with an arcaded upper balcony and rounded arches, on a wide street cornerPhoto: Mattinbgn · licence

Gordon Hotel

63 Bentinck Street, Portland VIC 3305

Grade B · Building datedTrading · checked Sept 2026

Gordon Hotel is locally dated 1842. No earlier record has been found.

Claimed
1842
First record
none found
Building
c.1928

The building. Rebuilt in stages 1870s-1928 (pit-sawn Tasmanian timber).

Pub website
  • Food
  • Beer garden

How old is it, really?

How to read this ribbon
Locally dated 1842; no early record found; building c.1928.

Hatched: 184 years claimed with no document found yet. Diamond: the standing building, dated from its fabric to about 1928.

The claim

A timber-and-portico hotel in the historic port of Portland, trading since 1842 by its own account when it opened as the Commercial Inn. Local historian Noel Learmonth credited it with the state's longest continuously held licence. Rebuilt piecemeal between the 1870s and 1928, it's still a straightforward country pub with a beer garden and home-style meals.

What the records show

The 1842 is a pub historian's: Time Gents has the house established that year as the Commercial Inn and renamed the Gordon in 1890. The hotel's own website tells it differently, saying the present building was built in 1885, replacing the 1840 Commercial Hotel, and claiming the oldest continuous licence issued in Victoria. In 1949 the Portland historian Noel Learmonth wrote that it held the longest continuously held licence in the state. The present building was reworked from the 1870s to 1928, and the Duke of Wellington and Mac's Hotel have also claimed early Victorian licences.

Dated evidence for Gordon Hotel, earliest first
YearWhatSource
1842Claimed foundingLocal history
c.1928Present buildingBuilding fabric

What to look for inside

  • 1949 local history credits it with Victoria's longest continuous licence
  • 1890s publican Oliver Dolphin also photographed Portland life
  • Renamed the Gordon in 1890

Visiting

Gordon Hotel is in Portland, Australia, at 63 Bentinck Street, Portland VIC 3305. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.

thegordonhotel.com.au

Sources

  1. timegents.com/2016/07/17/victorias-oldest-pub-license/
  2. www.gdaypubs.com.au/state-histories.html
  3. thegordonhotel.com.au/
  4. discover.data.vic.gov.au/dataset/victorian-liquor-licences-by-location

Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026

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Checked by OldPubs: Gordon Hotel dated 1842

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