Historic pub is on the block
You’ve heard the song and have probably sung along to the chorus. Soon, the Town and Country will be in new hands.
The Town and Country Hotel in St Peters, Sydney – a pub made famous by Slim Dusty in the song Duncan – is up for sale.
Established in 1881, the hotel became a pop-culture landmark in 1980 when Dusty’s version of the tune, written by pub regular Pat Alexander, became a huge hit.
With its famous chorus, beginning “I’d love to have a beer with Duncan”, the song captured the essence of mateship.
Located on Unwins Bridge Road, the three-storey interwar-style hotel remains a well-known landmark despite its closure in 2023 due to disputes over building repairs and rental agreements.
The venue features a traditional main bar, a beer garden, and an outdoor dining space, with the upper two floors housing 18 boarding rooms.
Co-agent Peter Seeto of Highland Commercial Property has suggested that the Town and Country could be transformed into an independent craft-style pub, with its rich history making it an attractive site for a music venue or boutique accommodation.
The Town and Country Hotel is just one of many Australian pubs that have been immortalised in music, film, and television.
One of the most famous is Brisbane’s Breakfast Creek Hotel, which features prominently in Midnight Oil’s song Dreamworld.
The 1987 hit referenced the pub as a symbol of Australia’s changing urban landscape, lamenting the destruction of old landmarks due to commercial development. The Breakfast Creek Hotel, however, has remained a Queensland institution, known for its steakhouse, lively atmosphere, and colonial architecture.
Other legendary Australian pubs include The Ettamogah Pub in Albury, which was originally a cartoon by Ken Maynard before being brought to life as a quirky real-world venue in 1987, and The Esplanade Hotel (“The Espy”) in St Kilda, which has been a cornerstone of Melbourne’s live music scene for decades and venue for recordings of SBS’s RocKwiz.
The Imperial Hotel in the Sydney suburb of Erskineville gained international fame as a key filming location for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and remains the title of “Australia’s most famous gay bar”, while the Royal Hotel in Dungog, in the Hunter region north of Newcastle, was central to the intense 2023 thriller, The Royal Hotel.
And, of course, there’s The Walkabout Creek Hotel in north-western Queensland, which splashed onto the global stage in Paul Hogan’s 1986 smash hit film, Crocodile Dundee.
Whatever happens under new ownership, while Duncan remains in the hearts and on the lips of Australians, the Town and Country will always be remembered as a pub where the atmosphere is great, and people from all walks of life come together to share a drink and a yarn.
Oh, and wherever you drink, it might pay you to remember these wise words from the lyric: “drink in moderation and never, ever, ever get rolling drunk”.
The Town and Country will be auctioned in Sydney on 8 April 2025.
Further reading: ABC, Wikipedia, Red Bull
Image: Commercialrealetate.com.au
