Hotel Metropole

Positioned at the corner of Brisbane and Waghorn Streets, The Harp of Erin was the original hotel on the site (at 253 Brisbane Street) but it had become run down by the early 1890s. After years of complaints by the licensing court and years of delaying tactics by the owner, a new brick hotel was erected on the site in 1906 named "The Hotel Metropole". It opened on 4 October 1906 with Miss Leticia Fairley as licensee and in 1907 a billiard room was introduced. 

The Metropole was designed by George Brockwell Gill with public and private bars, dining room, parlour, coffee room, billiard room, shop, kitchen, 1 bedroom and offices on the ground floor. Upstairs there were 13 bedrooms, drawing room, sitting room and 3 bathrooms. A cellar and wash-house were in the basement. The building cost over £3000 including brickwork by John Mackenzie, plumbing & gas-fitting by John Cuthbert and joinery by Arthur Foote, to name a few of the contractors. The structure was up-to-date with indoor lavatories, electric bells, hot water service and gas lights. And there were many decorative architectural details incorporated, including a stained glass window.

Over the years the hotel has suffered from at least three fires. The first was in May 1925, when the chimney caught fire. There were great concerns due to the amount of smoke coming from the chimney at 1 o'clock in the morning, and the Fire Department attended, but the fire burnt itself out and no damage was done to the hotel.

The second fire in 1932 was also a chimney fire. It occurred "on Saturday morning shortly after the business houses had closed for the week-end..." (Queensland Times). This fire required assistance from the Fire Department, but the water that they used to put out the fire caused more damage than the fire itself.

The third fire was in 1940 when a fire broke out, at 3 o'clock in the morning, in a linen room in the north-east corner of the building. This fire caused an estimated £1250 in damage to the building. A quarter of the top floor was gutted, although most of the rooms had suffered some damage from the fire spreading through the ceiling. The building was evacuated; with at least one occupant being sent to the hospital. Mrs. E. Edwards, a 75 year old boarder was initially cared for at the Fire Station on the other side of the road but was taken to the hospital later in the day. In the end no one was injured. This time there was action for the Fire Department, though, with at least two engines being in attendance at the event. The fire burnt through to the ground floor of the property directly over the piano, and water poured through damaging a wireless, a Chesterfield suite and other furnishings. It was reported in the Queensland Times the next day that "Every cup, bowl, and dish in the kitchen was full of water".

In 1941 the licensee of the hotel, and seven other men, were charged with breaching the Liquor Act. Four of the men were airmen from the R.A.A.F. base at Amberley. Robinson pled guilty for keeping "...his licensed premises open for the sale of liquor on a Sunday" (Queensland Times). Each of the men were fined, if they did not pay these fines within a month they would instead serve four days in jail.

The hotel has undergone numerous name changes from "The Harp of Erin" to "The Silver Fern", and in recent years returned to its original name "Hotel Metropole".

There were several instances of robberies at the hotel over the years in 1914, 1926 and 1940 there were burglaries at the Hotel Metropole that were significant enough to be reported on in the newspapers.