Federal Hotel

You’ll find the Federal Hotel on the New South Wales side of the Murray River Bridge. This old weatherboard boozer was originally built in 1890 and has been embellished just once, with a brick facade being added to the pub in the early noughties. These days, it’s affectionately known to locals as The Good Old Fed.

The family-friendly bistro is also named with some affection for one of the pub’s original licensees, George Puddicombe. He ran the pub from 1915 until his death in 1939, but his namesake, Puddi’s bistro, lives on as a peddler of pub classics. Panko-crumbed schnitzels, beer-battered barramundi and chips plus a couple fancy steaks from the grill are menu highlights. A tight selection of pizzas also makes for excellent grazing fare.

The public bar features all the hallmarks of a good country pub – or any pub for that matter. Weekly specials, daily happy hour and the usual suspects gleaming on tap. In summer, a petite amphitheatre in the courtyard hosts live bands and DJs, but otherwise you could do worse than a live game of game of footy blown-up on one of the pub’s screens.

Once you’ve wrapped up a session here, it’s a five minute stroll back across the bridge to Victorian soil.