The John Curtin Hotel

Carlton's historic Labor-Party-and-live-music pub, opposite Trades Hall

The John Curtin Hotel — universally just "the Curtin" — sits on the corner of Lygon and Queensberry streets opposite Victorian Trades Hall. Through the 20th century it was the meeting place of Melbourne's labour movement; through the 1990s and 2000s it became one of the most important small live-music rooms in the city, with bands packed into the upstairs band room four nights a week.

The pub closed for several years in the late 2010s and reopened in 2022 after a sympathetic restoration. The downstairs bar is back to working-pub format with the labour-movement memorabilia intact, and the upstairs band room is hosting live music again. Worth a stop on the walk between Lygon Street and the city.

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A story
The pub sits directly opposite Trades Hall and was for decades effectively the Victorian Labor Party's unofficial caucus room — Bob Hawke, John Cain and a long roll of state premiers drank here. In its second life from the 1990s it became one of Melbourne's most important live-music venues, hosting early gigs by Magic Dirt, Spiderbait and Bored! among many others.

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