"Now a 200km stretch of highway through the heart of the outback and several remote Aboriginal towns are, in Dusty's words, so lonesome, after a historic pub was stripped of its liquor licence from the first day of 2026. Yet and with all due respect to the bush balladeer from Nulla Nulla Creek while the days since 1 January at the Barrow Creek Hotel have undoubtedly been dreary, there have been those more morbid by far."
"They ranged from female toilets with broken windows, exposed wiring and a hand dryer that did not work to a failure to provide meals and drinking water, maintain a functioning computer or respond to emails. In the decision, the commission's chair, Russell Goldflam, noted that Pilton's close and apparently effective relationship with local drinkers who apparently support his unorthodox trading arrangements appeared to moderate the excessive and harmful use of alcohol."
A historic wayside pub on the Stuart Highway, the Barrow Creek Hotel, lost its liquor licence from 1 January 2026 following a Northern Territory Liquor Commission hearing. The publican, Les Pilton, aged 76 and in business for 37 years, faced ten grounds of complaint including serving Indigenous customers through a hatch using income-management cards and multiple health and safety failures. Complaints cited broken toilets, exposed wiring, a non-working hand dryer, failure to provide meals and drinking water, and poor communications. The commission noted Pilton's close relationship with local drinkers appeared to moderate alcohol harm, and local police reported little alcohol-related trouble.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]