Thompsons Hotel
This plaque is located at 36 Curdie St.
After more than 120 years, Thompsons Hotel no longer belongs to a member of the Thompson family. But the pub will continue to be known as ‘Thommos’ so Cobden is not about to lose one of its best-known institutions.
Thompsons Hotel, then known as the Grand Central, was constructed in 1904. Costing £6000, it was designed by Michael McCabe, of Camperdown clock tower fame, and built by Mr H H Clarke.
Early reports suggested 50% of the cost was due to the bricks coming from Ballarat because the (Tandarook Park) brickworks did not turn out any bricks until 1908. But it appears the first local bricks were actually made at the northern end of town. Jack S Fletcher in The Infiltrators writes: “It is known the building was constructed of bricks made in Cobden . . .”
The first Thompsons were Denis and Mary. They had previously leased the first Cobden Hotel on the same site before building the Grand Central.
The new hotel could not be built without first getting local approval and teetotaller Dr Daniel Curdie provided formidable opposition to the licence being granted. Ultimately, a community meeting ‘won the day’.
Son Leo Thompson helped his mother, Mary, run the pub after Denis died in 1905. Not too much before the death of Denis, Mary’s sister died in a fire and another son, 9 years-old, had also died.
It was Leo who changed the pub’s name from the Grand Central to Thompsons Hotel. He became reclusive but one memory was of him dancing with himself out at the Carpendeit Hall. One of his nicknames was ‘Scooter-boots’.
Leo and his wife Agnes held the licence for about forty years. Two children were Robert (“Bob”) Thompson who took over the hotel in 1945, and Mary Gayton whose son, also Robert, ran the pub soon after Bob died in 1984.
Son Bob provided marvellous support for his two ill parents on returning from the air force after the war. He didn’t see active service.
When Bob died, he left the pub to Mary Gayton who was pleased that son Robert was keen to take over. “The first handyman in the family since his great, great grandfather Edward Kelly JP of Darlingford,” she claimed.
The ground floor included the public bar, the pig pen, the sows’ pen, the dart room, the brown and green rooms, the cupboard and the morgue.
The pig pen or the silk department
was used mainly by so-called ’professionals’, the sows’ pen by women while the cupboard was a fully-equipped room for bona-fide travellers to use after 6pm.
Patrons of this area should have been at least 30 miles away from home ‘as the crows fly’ but, as one drinker put it, “Not being a crow, I’m unsure of the distance to home . . . so I’ll stay!”
All pubs were required to have a morgue. At least two men made use of this room. One boarder took his own life at the hotel, and another died of natural causes in the bar. The morgue had no facilities, not even a bed. Stables to sleep horses were pub requirements.
Famous was the pub’s big brass bell which was the call for breakfast but it also doubled as the fire siren and the footy siren at the recreation reserve.
In 1979, a fire damaged the back door when some cardboard boxes caught alight. Apparently, the fire brigade didn’t go home that night. Another fire occurred in the early days when a guest fell asleep while smoking in bed.
When Robert Gayton took over in 1984, many physical changes took place. Among them, the old lounge was extended, a bottom bar was built – with TAB facilities – and a bottle shop was opened. He was always keen to develop the business to meet the needs of his clientele.
Robert was the publican until 2002 when he took out a lease on the City Oval Hotel in Ballarat. During these first 18 years in Cobden, he identified strongly with the town and the locals. He was a keen cricketer and his first sons Sean and Matt were born in 1991 and 1993 respectively, and William was born in 2014. Robert loves to tell a story or two.
Managers/leasees at Cobden since 2002 were: Colin and Jan Gaut (until 2006), Craig and Doreen (2006-09), Toni and Michael, (2009- Oct 2012), Bree and Paul (Christmas 2012-April 2013), Rob Gayton (again) and Julie when William was born (April 2013-Feb 2015), Heinz and Leonie (Feb 2015-April 2018), Mandy (May 2018-August 2020), Rob Gayton again (August 2020-January 2021), Belinda and Michael (Feb 2021-May 2023) and now, under new ownership, M & M Trading. Thankfully, it will continue to be known to all as Thommos.
