Peter Bellchambers and his father, Noel, love the British pub scene so much they’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars transporting their rustic ambience to Queensland.
Realising the thirst for nostalgia was marketable, they first made a decision not to let progress change the atmosphere in the little Shingle Inn tea-rooms they’ve operated in the heart of Brisbane for over 30 years. Genteel waitresses in puffed sleeves and long blue-and-white frocks of the 50s, quietly serve tea and home-baked cakes to ladies and gentlemen perched at tiny tables on frail chairs. ‘Nobody dare change anything,’ says Peter. ‘The customers want things to remain the same as they were years ago. To make sure, the National Trust has listed us.’ Couples taking afternoon tea in downtown Brisbane could be forgiven to think they were in an early Lyons in Piccadilly.
Then last week the Bellchambers opened Gilhooley’s Irish bar and restaurant nearby, designed by their London pub architect Dick Henry, flown out from Britain. And only a step or two away is their long-established ********* Inn which the British Government asked the father-and-son team to operate at the UK Pavilion at Expo 88 before it was transported, walls, decor and beer-kegs to one of Brisbane’s most fashionable shopping malls. Even the interior timbers had been brought out from the UK.
Peter Bellchambers sees a demand in Australia for something apart from the often soulless Australian bar counter. ‘We’ve been back to Britain a lot and we see the appeal for British-theme pubs as very strong in Australia. We opened our first Gilhooley’s in Cairns 18 months ago. People want more than just a bar - they now want atmosphere. The pub there has really taken off.’
While Gilhooley’s barmen are being run off their feet pulling Guinness, over at the ********* Inn the punters are tucking into bangers-and-mash, Toad in the Hole and Spotted Dick, washed down by Newcastle Brown and Bass. Ex-Londoner Dave Johnson, who plays the piano there and leads the singalongs three nights a week says: ‘Even the Aussie kids are coming here to sing; they’re tired of disco music. They love "Bye, Bye Blackbird" and "Daisy Daisy", though I’ve got to give ‘em song sheets so they know the words.’
No song sheets are needed at Dave’s other "gigs" where he is known as "Alf" ("A Very Lovely Fellow, and because I sound like Alf Garnet") bringing tears to ex-pat eyes with the music they remember hearing in London pubs in the 60s. ‘That music was around before they left home and they sort of live the good times they had before they left,’ says Dave, ("aged 29 for a good few years.")
‘I was nearly famous,’ he says between stints at the piano. ‘I used to play piano around the London pubs and do some session work. One day I was asked to do a session with the Kinks, but I never got fame and fortune from it. Somewhere, at home though, I’ve got a newspaper cutting to prove I did it.’
When Dave ends the night at the British Social Club, Ipswich, with the theme-song "You’ll Never Walk Alone", there are many quivering upper lips among the genuine Pearlies and early migrants. Reg Gifford, the President, organises town criers, pork pies and pickled onions for British Pub nights and says members revel in talking about "home" and joining in "Alf’s" songs.
Dave came out in 1970 to work on the Opera House air-conditioning, but saw more fun in being an entertainer. Every time he plays at The *********, he says, he sees a steady infiltration of British pub atmosphere creeping into the minds of youngsters who once thronged discos. ‘When they get tired of jumping up and down, they drift in here. A party of 20 might come in, led by three or four Brits. Then the Aussies, who know nothing about Britain except the songs, start coming in by themselves, and soon they’re on their way to the UK to see what it’s like over there. I give them a bit of Rock for dancing, a bit of the Beatles and "Yellow Submarine" and they go mad.’
Architect Dick Henry, who flew back to Britain a few days before Gilhooley’s opened its doors, has designed 1,400 pubs all over the world. Bar manager John Geraghty,47, from County Kildare, who has been serving behind Australian bars for the last 20 years says: ‘We are the only licensed bar or pub in Australia with Harp and Kilkenny beer on tap. The beer was flown out from Ireland for the opening. I have served in Australia, the UK and Ireland for 28 years and see a big attraction now for theme pubs. Guinness has been doing this world-wide for years. But we’re the only pub and restaurant in Brisbane to do it properly.’
