Description

Lappa Junction is on the Chillagoe Road two hours' drive west of Cairns The hotel was built in 1900 by JW Walton, it was called the Federal Hotel and it still stands, but renamed the Espanol The hotel, now museum with a BYO bar, on one-acre of land The Español Hotel at Lappa Junction in Northern Qld is one of those pubs that makes you shake your head and grin. Walk in, and there it is — an old timber bar, walls that have seen a hundred years, and… no beer for sale. Because this pub isn’t licensed. Hasnt been since 1966. You bring your own, crack it open, and drink it right there. It’s ridiculous. It’s brilliant. And it works. Somehow, in a building that’s survived railways, towns disappearing, and more dust than you can imagine, the bar is still alive. People wander in, leave their own mark on the place, and leave with a story they’ll be telling for years. Running the show is Tim Prater, an Aussie legend if ever there was one. He keeps the place alive, welcomes everyone who wanders in, and somehow makes a BYO pub feel like the most natural thing in the world. An old pub. Your own beer. History in every timber and nail. And a host who makes it feel like it’s always been yours.