The George Hotel.

The George Hotel

It opened in 1857 as the Terminus Hotel, named for the railway terminus across the road, and by the early twentieth century it had more than a hundred rooms and was one of the biggest hotels in suburban Melbourne.

Why go

Frederick Wimpole bought the place in 1873, became mayor of St Kilda in 1886, and kept building: the four-storey Renaissance Revival corner at Grey Street went up in 1885-86, the parapets and the round tower with it (Victorian Heritage Register). Upstairs later became the Crystal Ballroom, which is where Australian post-punk happened. What trades in the building today is smaller than any of that. George Lane runs on the ground floor as a live-music room, opening only when shows are on but generally from Thursday to Sunday, with blues, folk, country and rock and roll on the bill and a kitchen doing snacks, pizzas, souvlaki and Korean fried chicken (Beat). The George Lounge sits underneath as a function space and the George Ballroom takes events. Read this page as the building and the one room in it you can walk into.

Order this / avoid

• Order: a martini or an old fashioned. Beat writes that the marble and velvet put you in the mood to order "something classy", and the food is there to be eaten during a set rather than sought out.
• Avoid: a night with nothing booked, since the room does not open. And do not come here looking for Karen Martini. Saint George is across the street at 54 Fitzroy Street in the old Saint Hotel, a different building under different owners.

What locals & experts say

• Beat Magazine, on the room: It's one of those situations where the inside and outside don't match up. The facade is graffitied to the nines and the interior is a decadent delight, with dim lighting and ornate art deco motifs. The same entry files the practical warning that it is a little tricky to locate.2
• The Victorian Heritage Register, on why the building exists: the Terminus Hotel was ideally situated to benefit from the 1857 railway, and by the early twentieth century the George had over one hundred rooms, numerous bars, lounges and a dining room and was amongst Melbourne's leading hotels.1
• Broadsheet, correcting the record on Karen Martini: Saint George is formerly Saint Hotel and now run by Public Hospitality, and is located across the street from the George Hotel. Her connection to this building is a 16-year run at the Melbourne Wine Room inside it, where her bistecca alla Fiorentina was on the menu for 16 years.3
• No critic has assessed the current offer. Broadsheet, Time Out and Beat were searched by name on 1 August 2026 and none carries a review of the food or the bar in any room in this building. No Melbourne chef names it in a 74-pick industry corpus.

Good to know

• Where: the building runs 123-127 Fitzroy Street around to 2-10 Grey Street. George Lane's own door is at 1 George Lane, down the alley, and it is hard to find on purpose.
• Timing: show nights, generally Thursday to Sunday. Check what is booked before you leave the house.
• Rooms: George Lane (live music, ground floor), The George Lounge (basement, private functions), the George Ballroom (events). This entry covers the building and George Lane. No evidence from Saint George attaches here.
• The real send nearby: Saint George, 54 Fitzroy Street, for Karen Martini's grill and tavern.
• Hygiene: Victoria publishes no venue ratings, only Safe Food Victoria's register of convictions under s.53D of the Food Act 1984, and this venue is not on it.7

Verdict

could-visit — This is a building before it is a venue. The George went up in 1857 as the Terminus Hotel, opposite the railway terminus that gave it its name, and by the early twentieth century it ran to more than a hundred rooms and sat 'amongst Melbourne's leading hotels' on the state heritage register's own account. The Crystal Ballroom upstairs was where Australian post-punk happened. All of that is Experience, and food and drink quality comes first. What trades there now is George Lane on the ground floor, a live-music room with marble counters and velvet that Beat says opens 'only when shows are on but generally from Thursday to Sunday', and whose kitchen runs snacks, pizzas, souvlaki and Korean fried chicken while the band plays. No critic has assessed any of it and no Melbourne chef names it. Go for a gig, or stand on the corner of Fitzroy and Grey Street for ten minutes and look at the 1885 tower. For dinner, walk across the road to Saint George at number 54, which is where Karen Martini actually cooks and which listings confuse with this address.