Why this Launceston CBD building is mostly missing

Looking closely at what is now a hairdresser's, you see that it appears to be half a house.

Which it is. The rest of the building is now the vacant block on the corner of Paterson Street.

The plans for a development there never eventuated.

The first building on the site appears to have been by John Griffiths in 1822 and was likely a rather rude structure.

Robert Evans purchased it around 1832, enlarging it and establishing a bakery and boarding house.

In 1834, the corner part of the complex became the Coach and Horses Hotel, run by licensee Richard Ruffin.

Several licensees later came former soldier and constable John Sheridan in 1853.

He left in 1859 to establish the Star Hotel opposite, which, remarkably, still exists today under its original name.

This left Robert Evans' teetotaller son Henry to run the Coach and Horses - something that didn't please him at all.

Nevertheless, he inherited the property and would be stuck there for 26 years, until death released him in 1886.

This was when Boag's took over the lease, taking John Roles from the Retreat Hotel in Invermay Road and putting him in charge.

In 1891, he and his wife Ann transformed the building, gutting it and renovating it with a polished kauri and blackwood bar, and mirrors framed by nickel pillars.

The freehold had remained with the Evans family, however, and this didn't change until 1905, when the property was finally sold to Henry Edwards, whose son John, conductor of the Launceston City Band, took over the licence.

With the end of the Boag's lease, they were able to sell Melbourne beers.

To get his son off to a good start, Edwards demolished part of the old premises and bakery, building a new hotel with adjacent hairdresser and tobacconist shops.

The new two-storey brick pub was rechristened the National Hotel to emphasise how up-to-date it was - no longer to be serviced by coaches and horses.

Things then remained much the same for 50 years, until one of its best-loved licensees, Arthur Grimes, retired in 1953 to "The Anchorage" at Deviot.

On June 26 the following year, crowds gathered for free drinks to mark the grand old hotel's last day.

The young and final licensee Don Mitchell was cheered and given several presentations by loyal patrons.

Then they all sang Auld Lang Syne and an era passed into history.

The new owner was The Examiner and it wanted to expand its operations.

On Christmas Eve 1954, the hotel was demolished.

All except a small section on Charles Street, that had been shifted to a separate title.

The Examiner intended to immediately build a six-storey office building, but for some reason, it never happened.

The site remains vacant today and is used as a car park.

All except the little hairdressers.

Connect with the past, visit Launceston Historical Society - Facebook.com/launcestonhistory