Balfour Street – Launceston Hotels

NW cnr Balfour & Bathurst Streets. Google Maps.

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July 2016

1888 John Walsh, Centennial Hotel, Balfour and Bathurst Streets Street
1898+ Ernest Alfred Fawkner, Centennial Hotel, Balfour and Bathurst Streets Street

From “Annual Licensing Meeting”:
The application for the Jolly Butchers had special features. The house had been established for a number of years, and the tenant, Mr. Walsh, wished to purchase it when it was offered for sale by public auction, but the biddings did not reach the reserve, and then Mr. Walsh. proceeded to build the Centennial Hotel on the opposite side of the street and asked for a new license. Mr. E. Byron Miller appeared in support of Mr. Bachfield’s application, which was deferred until that of Mr. Walsh’s was before the bench, when, after deliberation, the application of Mr. Bachfield was refused, for the Jolly Butchers premises, although the proprietor had promised to re-model the premises so as to adapt them to modern requirements.
The Tasmanian, 8 December 1888

NE corner of Wellington & Balfour Streets. Google maps.

Home to what seems to have been Launceston’s first theatre (1834, more about the theatre here). Became the colonial hospital in the early 1840s, and then the public Cornwall Hospital until the construction of the Launceston General Hospital in 1863.

1832 Alexander Rose, British Hotel, Wellington Street
1833 Henry Davis, British Hotel, Wellington Street
1834 Thomas Massey, British Hotel, Wellington Street
1835-36 John Hamilton Jacobs, British Hotel, Wellington Street

Launceston Advertiser, 28 September 1831

Although this says Charles St, the license is granted for the following year (1832) and Rose is signing himself as the proprietor of the British Hotel, Wellington Street in May 1832 (see first ad below (not sure it does indicate a Wellington St address)).

British Hotel Launceston Advertiser, 9 May 1832
Launceston Advertiser, 9 May 1832

The Independent, 6 April 1833