By Rodney Hammett, Bulletin 01/2025, March

Badde Manors in 1991, formerly the site of a pub (Source: Bechervaise & Associates. (1991). Glebe Point Road Main Street Study, Stage 2 (Vol 1).

In replying to an email request to the Glebe Society for information in early January, I needed to understand the history of Badde Manors. A quick Google search brought up the website for self-guided Glebe Walks, which explains that The Glebe Hotel, constructed in 1864, was a prior use of the Badde Manors site. This didn’t seem correct to me because I knew from investigating the flour mills at the Broadway end of Glebe Point Road, the land was part of Joseph Hickey Grose’s Bishopsgate Estate, which had been subdivided and sold in the early 1840s. See articles in Bulletins 1/2022 and 3/2022.In fact, the land where we see Badde Manors today was purchased by George Williams in June 1843. What then was the story of this site for the 20 years between 1843 and 1864? That is another article in the making. However, my research took me on a tangential slope, investigating all the pubs in Glebe and Forest Lodge from the 1840s up until the present, and that is what this quiz is all about.

See how you go – the answers are below

1. Of the eight pubs in Glebe and Forest Lodge now: 

   1a) Which pub has been at its site the longest?

   1b) Which site(s) have had the most name changes?

2.  Which pub(s) operated for the shortest time?

3.  How many pub sites have there been in Glebe and Forest Lodge?

4. What was the name of the first pub, and when did it open?

5. Which pub was destroyed by fire and when?

6. How many different pub names have there been at the Badde Manors site?

7. In which street were there two pubs with the same name, at the same time, and when?

8. How many pubs were there in 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970?

9. In which year(s) were the maximum number of pubs trading, and how many?

For anyone interested in knowing about how these pubs played a pivotal role in the history of Glebe and Forest Lodge, you must read the relevant parts of Max Solling’s 2007 Grandeur & grit: a history of Glebe and his article on The Pubs of Glebe in Leichhardt Historical Journal No. 6, pps 10-15 and 20-21.  All 25 volumes of the Leichhardt Historical Journal are available from the Inner West Council’s Community Collections webpage (you’ll need to scroll down some way to see them).

Sources: Trove; NSW Government Gazettes and newspapers; and Sands Directories

Answers 

1a)   Friend in Hand, since 1857; rebuilt 1936

1b)  Lillie Bridge, Centennial, Harold Park and The Harold (current name)

2)  Apollo/Sir Charles Napier on Broadway (1854–1858); and Waratah at 92 Glebe Point Road (1873–1877)

3)  37

4)  Glebe Tavern, 1844

5)  Forrester’s Arms in 1858

6)  Three: Bishopgate Hotel (1858–1860), Sir Maurice O’Connell Hotel (1861–1863) and Glebe Hotel (1863–1908)

7)  Mitchell Street. Great Britain Hotel at the corner of Glebe Street (1874–1892) and Great Britain Hotel at the corner of Campbell Street (1882–1905)

8)  1880 (25), 1890 (27), 1900 (25), 1910 (20), 1920 (18), 1930 (16), 1940 (16), 1950 (16), 1960 (11), 1970 (11)

9)  1890–1893, when there were 27 pubs trading