Image: Photos: Facebook.
Half a century after her career began, the beloved Surry Hills publican Margaret Hargreaves has died.
Hargreaves’ career began in 1975 when she acquired the lease of the Shakespeare Hotel on Devonshire Street, before gaining the freehold title in 1978. She later purchased the nearby Strawberry Hills Hotel, retaining it until her death.
After recently enduring both the construction of the Eastern Suburbs light rail line and the COVID-19 pandemic, Hargreaves sold ‘the Shakey’ last year after 45 years at the helm.
“I remember tapping the keg on my first day of trade in August, 1975,” she said in 2023, after placing the pub on the market.
“On that day, we took $69 in sales and the rest is history. The pub has been very good to our family so the decision to sell has been quite overwhelming, but the time is right for a fresh perspective on the Shakey.”
She saw Surry Hills change around her in significant ways. In 1975, it still retained the reputation it had held for much of the 20th century as a low-income, unglamorous neighbourhood. The influx of young professionals in the eighties began its re-transformation into the kind of higher-end suburb it had been a century prior, and is once again today.
Tributes for “trailblazer” Margaret Hargreaves
John Green, director of liquor and policing at the New South Wales branch of the Australian Hotels Association, paid tribute to Hargeaves.
Green said that she “was a classic example of a generation of strong women, who not only broke down barriers in the seventies but led the way by becoming one of the inner city’s top pub owners.
“She was a trailblazer with her own unique style and her passing is a loss for the industry.”
“Operating two pubs in Surry Hills, the Shakespeare Hotel from 1975 until recently, as well as the Strawberry Hills Hotel, Margaret and her family – including daughter Kelly – led the way with their resilience and determination during challenging times including COVID and the light rail construction, which caused massive disruption to the business.”
The manager of the Shakespeare Hotel said that Hargreaves was a “good woman” with an “old-school” persona.
