The Old Canberra Inn
http://www.oldcanberrainn.com.au/
195 Mouat Street, Lyneham
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm Sun to Thu 11:00am to late Fri and Sat
I thought it fitting to start not at the most northern end of the ACT but the first pub of Canberra being The Old Canberra Inn. From first impressions the main building looks like an old timber house that looks much newer than it actually is having been built in 1857. It’s only when you step inside the doors that you really see its age. Despite having been renovated multiple times over its 158 year existence, it still has that colonial feel with round timber support structure and looks every bit its true age. They have these old chairs and couches there for a rustic feel and are appealing to all potential drinkers by supplying board and block games like Jenga for the hipsters I guess. It’s a good idea as not many pubs are supplying these kinds of options even though the most common clientele seems to be tradies. I’ve been to the old Canberra inn many times throughout the day and night and more times than not there are ‘hi viz’ colours somewhere on premises. For these blokes and for the enthusiasts of the games they also have a pool table and two dart board’s setup in one of the function rooms labelled ‘The Stables’. I’m particularly happy about the dart boards myself as I’ve found it quite rare that such an old and respected game in the pub scene has been overlooked in Australian public house society. There are beer gardens at this venue, one at the front you walk through to get to the bar and two at the back which is really good for those warmer days of socialising but in the colder ones, and let’s face it in Canberra there’s shit loads of those, there is not a great deal of room in the bar area. Space has been provided in the other rooms but it will get tight if there are 40 or so people hovering in the main bar area. If I were on a pub crawl this would definitely be a part of the tour and I intend on making crawl maps for this blog that will include this pub as one of the early venues to start at finishing somewhere in civic. The Old Canberra Inn is now gearing towards live music which has dates on their website located in the information section below which really does put the finishing touches on an all-round good venue. Their beers are reasonably priced and they also have happy hours from 4pm to 6pm Monday to Friday. The beers provided are a modest selection of craft beers and the generic ‘thrown in to please the masses’ Carlton Draught just in case you like your mass produced generic beverages. Don’t get me wrong is a good thing because when there’s a possibility of a big night involving numerous venues you don’t want to be forced into mixing beers because that RSL you end up at doesn’t have Bridge Road on tap!