The Arms and Mrs Clat
THIS month marks 60 years since the Clatworthy family took over the Sawyers Arms Tavern in Noble St off La Trobe Tce.
The hotel has been in the Clatworthy family since 1958, when they took over from former Geelong Football Club president Jack Jennings.
Showing his allegiance to the Cats, Jennings renamed the hotel the Kardinia Park Hotel, and it proved popular with the fans, many of whom stopped at the pub after matches across the road.
When the Clatworthys took over they changed the name back to the Sawyers Arms Tavern to honour its traditions. But in the years since the hotel has become equally well known as Clat’s Pub.
The original Sawyers Arms Hotel had been built in 1850 for timber merchant John Jackson. In 1859 the hotel was used for a meeting to help form the Newtown and Chilwell fire brigade.
William Fordham, who took over the Sawyers Arms in 1854, later went on to become a member of the first Newtown and Chilwell council.
The original council chambers were next to the fire brig- ade building at the top of Pakington St hill.
The original hotel was rebuilt in 1907 to produce the basics of the hotel so popular today, but alterations were made in 1924 and 1955. At one stage the back bar had been two bedrooms and a bathroom.
That process has continued, with the present owner Peter Clatworthy completing the latest improvements last April after closing the establish- ment for five weeks for works.
Peter’s grandmother and her husband, Ken, had taken over the pub in 1958, and in the years since Mrs Clat became something of an institution in Newtown. One of our photos shows Mrs Clat holding court in the main bar of the hotel in the 1980s.
Peter Clatworthy took over in the early 1990s. He said the pub had always had a loyal bunch of customers, with restaurant style food available since the 1980s.
Mr Clatworthy recently had an interest in the Fyansford Hotel, but is now confining his interests and concentrating his efforts on building on the firm foundations of the Sawyers Arms. Contact: peterjohnbegg@gmail.com