Page 2 of 16 Heritage Hotel Dorrigo Early Days In Dorrigo In the above photo, the empty paddock on the left is where the Hotel Dorrigo was later built. In the early 1920s the brewer, Tooth & Co. (Tooths) did not have an outlet for their beer in Dorrigo because the existing Commercial Hotel sold a rival brewer’s beer. At the time the Glenreagh to Dorrigo railway line was being constructed in order to bring in fertiliser and parcels and to take out timber, potatoes, livestock, and butter from Dorrigo. This railway line construction had many men “working up a cold hard thirst”. To obtain an outlet for its beer in Dorrigo, Tooths approached Michael Feros, the owner of the block of land on which the hotel now stands, to buy the block of land. Michael was a 26 year old Greek migrant who operated the White Rose Cafe and Bakery in Bielsdown Street, Dorrigo. He had come from the island of Kythera in 1911 as a 15 year old. Michael informed Tooths that he was not prepared to sell the block of land, but if Tooths guaranteed the bank loan for the construction costs of a hotel, he would build the hotel and sell Tooths beer. The Bank of NSW advanced £19,241 for building the hotel. The bank wrote “we consider the hotel too big for a town like Dorrigo but are safe with Tooth & Co behind same”. The hotel opened on the 13th August 1925 as a “40 year tied house”. The photo below shows Michael laying the foundation stone of the first brick house in Dorrigo. The hotels three level water tank stand can be seen in the left background
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