Bar Keepers Office

A small office at the back of the public bar at the Terminus Hotel sits in a partitioned corner, separated from the bar floor by a timber screen with a half-glazed panel. A timber desk runs along the back wall, the top scratched and ink-stained, with a stack of papers left on one corner. A pigeonhole shelf above the desk holds dusty ledgers and small bound notebooks. A swivel chair on castors sits beside the desk. A small safe stands against the side wall, the door slightly ajar. The light comes from a single pendant fitting above the desk and from a small window high in the back wall.

The bar-keeper's office was the administrative corner of the working pub, where takings were counted, ledgers were kept, and the daily paperwork of running a licensed premises was done. The Terminus's office layout reflected the Sydney-pub norm of the twentieth century: a partition just inside the back of the bar, easy access from the floor, line of sight to the till. The visible building is the 1917 Tooth and Co. demolition and rebuild. The pub closed in 1983 and the office was abandoned with its paperwork in place. By 2016 the desk had carried the same stack of papers for 33 years. The 2018 restoration cleared the room.