Standard Hotel, Orange: A history in reports and photos

The two-storey building on Anson Street has changed from a traditional country hotel to gain both an Irish theme and a British-pub theme in the past few years.

Its historic style with verandah posts has now been reinstated, harking back to the look the pub had before they were removed in 1956.

The pub was one of many across Orange to receive visits from Tooth Brewery inspectors dating from the 1920s.

Their reports, now available as part of the Noel Butlin Archives at the Australian National University, have recorded the changes.

The inspectors' first photo, from 1928, has posters on the front of the hotel, advising of a state election.

"Are you on the state roll, enrolment is compulsory," they proclaim. Two years later an inspector left an unflattering comment.

MAP: Where is the historic hotel located …

"Two storey brick, old, only fair appearance, small house, not in business centre," he wrote.

Considering where it is, it shows how condensed the business centre of Orange must have been back in 1930.

The reports also indicate how tough was the competition faced by pubs at that time.

They show there were nine other hotels within a 400 metre radius of the Standard, the nearest was the Metropolitan Hotel.

Tooths bought the freehold for the hotel from Tooheys in 1935. It records that the furniture was in 'excellent' condition and hotel had 12 bedrooms.

By 1940 a tender of 496 pounds had been accepted for renovations.

It was also agreed that part of the hotel's land would be leased to the Orange Club Limited for one pound a month.

A late 1940s photo shows the pub adorned with Tooth's KB beer advertising.

Major renovations took place in the early 1950s with an order to "remove W.Cs [toilets] from bedrooms or erect dividing walls", improve the ventilation to the kitchen and install fly-screens to the kitchen and pantry.

It continued as the Standard until 2013 when it became Biddy Walsh's Irish Pub and in 2016 became the Lord Anson.