Osbourne Hotel

The Fitzgibbons family bought The Osbourne Hotel in 1980 from Castlemaine Perkins, and even then it was for good reason – Brian Fitzgibbons Snr, knew and loved the hotel as his favourite watering hole during the war, when he worked in the Naval Stores at Teneriffe. With the next generation coming through at this time, Brian (Jnr) 30 years of age at the time was set the challenge to run The Osbourne (Brian Jnr was also behind the success of The Glen Hotel, which remains in the family still). A major renovation was undertaken with new areas created; the restaurant was named Bahama Palms, the private bar was called the Jungle Bar and a drive-in bottle shop was approved by Brisbane City Council at the rear of the hotel. The family even rolled out the red carpet to the kerbside for patrons and had girls in red bikinis serving drinks on roller-skates.