Condingup Tavern

The History

The Original Condingup Store

The original Condingup store was opened by Jim and Marg Owens. It passed from them to Jack and May Drew and then to Charlie and Catherine Johnston. In the early years there was no electricity and a generator was used during the day and shut down at night. This entailed creative solutions with plastic sheets and kapok mattresses to keep the ice-cream freezer intact until the next day.

Building the New Tavern

Bread, milk, papers and small grocery items would arrive at Condingup on the school bus. The mail came out on Mondays and Thursdays and Catherine often did a quick dash to Esperance in the early hours of the morning to get goods and then get back in time to open up.

Condingup Tavern as it is now

The Bottle shop liquor licence was granted in 1979. The locals would often buy cans and then leave them in the fridge and drink them as required. Thus the tradition of a pseudo tavern was begun.

The Tavern Bar

The original store had been hastily built and the floor was actually below ground level, meaning that it often flooded with a decent rain. In time the condition of the framework deteriorated to the extent that it was only being held up by the beating wings of the blowflies that came in through all the openings, so a new building was required.

The Tavern Restaurant

The decision was made to legitimise the tavern with a new licence and a new building with store attached. The new tavern was architect-designed and built by a local builder, Alan Timmins, and a local stonemason, Glen Hill. The granite was supplied by Charlie Johnston who had a 40 acre granite outcrop on his farm and was only too pleased to get rid of it.

The Condingup Shop Today

The current Condingup Tavern and store was opened on 15th November 1991 and a whole swag of clergy were roped into giving it a blessing.

The Tavern Beer Garden

Now it is a hub of community activity and invites your visit as soon as you can arrange to come to Condingup. They provide meals in the bar, meals in the restaurant and take-away meals to boot.