‘Toughest pub in the world’ closes after more than 130 years

An Aussie pub that boasted the record for the most stabbings in one night and was once dubbed the ‘toughest in the world’ has closed.

The Pier Hotel at Port Hedland, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia about 1,627km north of Perth, shut its doors for good at the end of June. 

The venue garnered the reputation of ‘the world’s toughest pub’ after British journalist John Dyson published his visit to the iconic landmark in London‘s Sunday Telegraph in the mid-1970s. 

The pub was rumoured to hold the record for most stabbings in one night, with 86 people including six barmaids injured.

The venue also drew in visitors for its wild outfits with scantily clad female staff wearing next to nothing – a trend known as skimpies. 

Owner Lynne Taylor explained she was retiring and wished to spend more time in New Zealand with her elderly mother after almost 20 years at the helm of the family-run pub. 

‘We will be trading until we run out of stock and closed for good before the start of the new financial year,’ the Facebook post read. 

‘We’ve put our heart and soul into running The Pier Hotel for almost 20yrs now, and in doing so we have had to put our private lives on the back burner.

‘In recent months, we as a family, have had a few situations arise where we have had to re-evaluate our priorities.’

The post added Lynne had also become a great grandmother and was looking forward to spending time with the new family addition outside of the pub walls.  

The Pier Hotel was a cornerstone of the Port Hedland community and stood witness as the area transformed from a quiet costal town to a bustling industrial hub. 

Port Hedland is now the state’s second largest mining town and exports about 520m tonnes of iron ore every year. 

The pub’s sordid past, penned by Dyson in a 2000-word article, made the hotel’s infamous reputation extend beyond local lore. 

A man at London’s Australia House told Dyson: ‘It’s reckoned to be the roughest and toughest pub in the country. They pack around the bar 50 or 60 deep.’

‘I’ll give you one bit of free advice: If someone pours beer into your pocket for God’s sake don’t hit the bastard.’ 

The pub was renowned for its legendary bar brawls, tough patrons and its no-nonsense attitude.  

‘It’s the only pub I’ve been to and seen so many people leave in an ambulance,’ Port Hedland local Bram Angus told The West Australian.

‘As kids, we all got loaded up in the car on Friday nights like we were going to the movies and park across the road or up the top and wait for the action,’ local Gloria Agale said.

In 2011, The Pier Hotel was also named on a Police list of the state’s top 10 most violent pubs and clubs.

The Pier Hotel was first constructed in the 1890s and became one of the first two hotels built in the town. 

In 1906, the single-storey corrugated iron pub was renovated and an additional storey was added.  

During World War II the hotel was used to accommodate soldiers and officers as the town became a strategic military base. 

In the 1950s and 1960s, Port Hedland saw a shift towards mining and the town saw an influx of workers

In the late 1960s and early 70s the Pier Hotel became the town’s unofficial landmark and would host an array of unconventional contests including cockroach racing and spaghetti-eating competitions. 

A mining boom in the late 20th century also drove further growth in the region, with the pub undergoing several renovations and upgrades to modern facilities.  

Since the early 2000s, the pub had cemented its rough-as-nails atmosphere but also become a hub for live entertainment and local DJs from

The Pier Hotel was listed for sale earlier this year and has had a slew of interest from potential buyers, with negotiations set to be finalised in the next few weeks. 

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