While pubs exist primarily to sell alcohol, it's where friends meet and enjoy the entertainment on offer, whether planned or unexpected. Formed as 'public houses' to serve mainly workers, each has their own story which Patricia Sumerling teases out from the nearly 200 hotels that were licensed since 1837, leaving 47 trading in 2022.

Often in bluestone, sandstone or brick, and located on main street corners, some of Adelaide's hotels were adorned in iron-laced balconies and verandahs, all of which create a distinctive visual charm in the streetscapes. Endless shaggy dog tales and improbable myths, involving owners, publicans and patrons, linger within these architectural gems.