When I was living Sydney, I was struck by the sheer number of charming old pubs and hotels, many of them quite small and lovingly maintained. If you wandered through inner city suburbs like Paddington and Newtown you'd be sure to stumble upon several of them. This is hardly surprising, of course. The city is older and bigger than Perth.

That said, there are some great local establishments that rival those in Sydney. There are just far fewer of them, and they tend to be bigger, as a rule. One of these is the Brass Monkey Hotel in Northbridge. It's a large building very close to the Perth Railway Station that dominates the main intersection of that suburb.



It's definitely been a round for a long while. Not sure of the exact date it was built, but here's a shot of it from the late 19th century. As you can see, at the time it was called the Great Western Hotel.

The ornate top section of the building is particularly striking. It almost looks like a minaret.



In keeping with the new name, there are a couple of figurines of monkeys (presumably made of brass!) drinking beer on the balcony. If you see them in silhouette, they actually look a little like gargoyles. While this doesn't make the whole place appear medieval, it certainly gives the building a distinctive appearance.