There are several mysteries the new management of Maitland’s historic Family Hotel are trying to unravel.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 156-year-old pub is believed to have a resident ghost, was supposed to be the scene of a murder, has a hidden attic still furnished with original furniture and a ballroom with a sprung dance floor.
General Manager Neil Hedges is trying to find answers and has put out a call to Hunter folk in a bid to learn more about the landmark establishment.
The hotel was built in 1860 according to a plaque attached to the High Street front of the building. The letters J E are etched into the plaque, another question that needs to be answered.
The hotel is two-storey with the attic adding a small and eerie third level.
The ground level provides access to the underground cellar, the main bar, bistro and gaming area.
The first floor comprises seven rooms.
The pub’s original stables are situated at the rear of the hotel’s car park and are heritage listed.
Mr Hedges has put out a call in a bid to find out more about the pub’s history and how it flourished during the years Maitland Saleyards operated adjacent to the hotel.
He has some sketchy details about the building’s past, most of it believed to be idle bar chat but where there’s smoke there’s fire and Mr Hedges is determined to get to the bottom of it.
During the 1955 flood The Family Hotel became home for many people courtesy of former owner Mollye Buckley whose family had the hotel for decades.
Mrs Buckley died in 1998. She spent her working like in the male-dominated field of the hotel industry and continued to own and operate the hotel even when its bread and butter, the saleyards, moved to Rutherford Industrial Estate in the early 1980s.
Mrs Buckley’s daughter Georgina Richardson said her mother was never fazed by changing economic trends. She said the hotel was a big part of her mother’s life, her labour of love.
Maitland brothers Chris and Jock Gollan purchased the hotel in 1997.
It is now in the ownership of the McVey Hotel Group.
“What we’re trying to do is get the hotel back to its roots and we want to learn more about what it was like in its heyday during the time the saleyards were here and I’d love to find an aerial shot,” Mr Hedges said.
“We’ve renamed the bistro the Stockyard Bar and Brasserie and we have a few other plans for the pub.
“I’d love to eventually turn the stables into an outdoor bar.
“We’ve introduced breakfasts on Saturday and Sundays with head chef Annette Preston and we have live music on Friday, Saturday and Sundays,” he said.
“But despite the changes we still want to pay homage to the pub’s past and we’re hoping people who have old pictures or stories about this great hotel can share them with us so we can display them and pass them on to our patrons,” Mr Hedges said.