Pubs of Albany: The birth and revival of The Earl of Spencer Historic Inn

Pubs are community hubs where friendships are made, romances sparked and business deals brokered. Bad things can happen in places where people gather and drinks flow, but for the most part, these establishments are the keepers of fond memories. The watering holes of Albany are among the oldest in the State. In a series launching today, the Advertiser explores their colourful history. In part one, we look at the birth and revival of the Earl of Spencer Historic Inn. Enjoying a pint at the The Earl of Spencer Historic Inn, the woodfire crackling in the winter, your thoughts might drift to the signs of history that surround you. It wouldn’t be long before those thoughts return to the beer in front of you. But the story behind the making and running of the pub has chapters and plot twists that span three centuries. Standing for more than 150 years, the Earl has only been a pub for a fraction of that time. In between drinks, it served as a boarding house, a grocery store and then sat abandoned for decades until it was restored in 1988. Built in the 1850s, the Earl first served Albany as a boarding house from 1865. It’s possible that more and more of the guests at the Spencer Inn got thirsty because in 1884 a licence was granted to Richard Nesbitt and a pub was established. Albany’s population was starting to boom as the town became an important port in WA for ships trafficking people to Europe and to the Eastern States. While growth was steady, the gold rush of the 1890s put the numbers coming through Albany into another gear. By 1898, about 500 passengers a week were coming to the city. Around that time, three new pubs were built in Albany and the Spencer Inn changed its name to the Earl of Spencer Inn. The new moniker was simply based on the intersection where the inn was built, rather than carrying any association with the English earldom created in 1765. But perhaps it was designed to inspire a new clientele in the increasingly crowded market. While some pubs started to gain a bad reputation, Spencer Inn continued to operate largely without incident into the 1920s. Unfortunately, in this decade the Albany public decided there were too many pubs in Albany. On April 30, 1921, while prohibition was taking off in America, a licensing poll was taken where members of the public made their voices heard. “The community expressed the wish, by a majority of 11 votes, for the reduction of existing licences,” the Tambellup Times reported. “Under the decision arrived at, it is compulsory for the bench to order the closure of not less than two... public houses in the Albany licensing district.” The Earl of Spencer Inn and York Hotel were the establishments chosen to lose their licence, but the decision to sacrifice the Earl struck some as odd. Far from being a problem for the community, the Nesbitt family had built a “truly wonderful record”, according to The Albany Despatch. The Western Mail reported that the controversial decision placed Spencer Inn in the “unpleasant position of having to attack the other places of business”. But the fight to stay open was not successful. After weeks of suspended sittings and delayed decisions, the board decreed that the Earl’s lack of suitable accommodation would be its undoing. The news must have seemed particularly cruel to the Nesbitt family who had been responsible for running the inn from its first days as a pub almost 40 years earlier. In one final farewell, loyal customers and friends met with Thomas Nesbitt, son of Richard Nesbitt, and sat down for a last supper of sorts, before the sun set on the establishment’s life as a pub on December 31, 1921. Sitting at the head of the table, former mayor Andrew Cuddihy toasted Mr Nesbitt, praising the “able manner in which Mr Nesbitt had conducted the house during the 22 years”, an article from The Albany Despatch said. “He felt that the town had been robbed of one of its conveniences and he was sure that he echoed the sentiments of one and all,” the Despatch reported. Mr Nesbitt, who himself would go on to become Mayor of Albany in 1940, decided to convert the pub into a grocery store. Many of the old clients stuck around in the inn’s new life. But there remained plenty of desire to bring the old Earl of Spencer Inn back. One anonymous writer in the Mt Barker and Denmark Record did not hide their disappointment with the new grocery store in 1931. “Venturing inside, I looked and was astonished — could that be my old friend, Sir Nesbitt?” they wrote. “The face which foretime beamed with smiles was now corrugated with care which the fleeting years had impressed deeply. “And now fallen from being a dispenser of the Elixir of Life to a purveyor of candles and soap.” The writer calls to “renew the ancient privileges of the Inn Spencer” so that beer can flow again. It would take more than 50 years, but in the 1980s a group of business people renovated the then-dilapidated building. During the renovation, one of the businessmen thought he saw the ghost of Darren Osborne, a murderer who reportedly lived in the ruins of the pub before his capture. That ghostly tale still lingers 30 years later, but the pub has been restored to its former glory. It reopened in 1988 as the Earl of Spencer Historic Inn and is now proudly owned by Neil and Sarah Simmonds. The anonymous writer from 1931 would be pleased to know the “ancient privileges” have been renewed.