20 Blackwood Street

20 Blackwood Street.

The Beehive Hotel [28] 1853-1879, re-named The Butcher ‘s Arms l879-1904, deprived (of its licence) 1904, demolished, rebuilt now the MU Internet House.

The name

The name Beehive has been used for pubs in England with the suggestion that publicans were as busy as bees and their product was sweet. From the Beehive Hotel in the town of Abingdon in the county of Buckinghamshire (to the west of London)’comes the following verse:

Within this house we’re all alive

Good liquor makes us funny

If you are dry, step in and try

The flavour of our honey.

After some twenty-five years, the Beehive was auctioned and reopened as the Butcher’s Arms, the name having become available again and the thriving Meat Market being opposite. In 1902, it was reported that the bathrooms were in poor repair and it joined the long list of 1904 closures.

Early records show that there was a pub on nearly every street comer in this area.

Historic Pubs of North Melbourne by Hotham History Project.