The Hotel Orient

On the corner of Queen and Ann Streets at one of the main roadway entrances to the CBD is the Orient Hotel. Located at 560 Queen Street, the building was originally erected as the Excelsior Hotel in two stages during 1875 and 1884. The Orient is one of a handful of surviving 19th century hotels in central Brisbane. The Hotel has experienced a number of refurbishments over the years, but the basic three story structure has remained over almost the past 100 years.

Today, the hotel has basic accommodation on the top floors, but its main attraction is its public bar and restaurant food. There is casual dining on the street level, with sit down lunch time and evening meals on the first floor. They also have poker machines and a TAB section for those gamblers amongst us. Bands play on Friday and Saturday night, and Thursday night is the night for discounted drinks.

Its great that the Orient is one of the few old pubs to have survived the development frenzy and midnight demolitions that claimed so many heritage buildings in the city centre during the 1970's and 80's. People often associate the building as a much smaller version of the flatiron building, although that isn't that peculiar to triangular blocks of land. I've eaten, drunk and gambled here a few times and always found it quite pleasant.

Cheers, I Love Brisbane, Wes.

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