18+ The Cooperage: 18+ only

ID in hand at the cooperage door, each night

The Cooperage

Where
Rear range, ground floor, across the cart way
Admission
18+ photo ID, every visit
Hours
Thu–Sat 19:00–01:00; nightly 27 Dec–15 Jan

The cooperage belongs to the bond store. It is the rear range, under the same roof as the rooms, and its only door opens off our own cart way: there is no street entrance and no other business behind it. Coopers made and mended oil casks in it until 1909, and since 2009 it has been the hotel's casino.

From reception it is 55 steps: through the stone arch, then along the cart way, which has been roofed in glass since 2003. The cart way is still paved with the original cobbles. While the casino is open somebody from the hotel is on its door, and everybody shows photo ID to them.

Reception to the cooperage

Ground floor plan from reception to the cooperage The store fronts Morrison Street with reception at the left end, the kitchen and bar in the middle and the glass room at the right. A stone arch in the back wall opens on to the cart way, which runs behind the store under a glass roof. Across it is the rear range, with old stables on the left and the cooperage on the right. A dotted line runs from reception through the arch and along the cart way to the cooperage door. Morrison Street Reception Kitchen and bar rooms in the bays above Glass room (2003, steel) Stone arch Cart way, cobbled, under glass since 2003 Old stables, now linen and plant Gaming hall the old cooperage 18+ · photo ID Rear range
Ground floor. The dotted line runs from reception through the arch and along the covered cart way: 55 steps, under one roof.
  • Open Thu–Sat 19:00–01:00; nightly 27 Dec–15 Jan
  • Size Five tables, one bar
  • Age 18+, photo ID every visit
  • Dress Closed shoes: the floor is cobble

The room

The casino floor is set with five tables. On a Thursday in July two are open. Over Christmas and New Year, when the yacht race arrives and the waterfront fills, all five run and the door counts people in and out. Capacity is thirty-six.

The room is long and narrow, with sandstone walls, a timber roof on its original trusses, and a cobbled floor that was laid for barrels to be rolled across it. The coopers' fire-pit is still in the north wall, cold and covered. Nothing plays over speakers; the room has none. A clock hangs above the bar, which casino rooms often leave out, and staff read it out to anyone who asks.

The dress rule is closed shoes. That is about the cobbles, not appearance. Sandals and wet thongs from the waterfront have both ended evenings early.

Who gets in

Nobody under 18 may enter a Tasmanian casino, this one included. Hotel guests get no exception, and nor does anyone else.

Photo ID is asked for on each visit rather than once at check-in, so the guest who had dinner in the glass room an hour ago is asked, and so is the one who was in last night. The door takes a passport, a driver licence or an Australian proof-of-age card, held in the hand. Pictures on phones are refused.

Under-18s stay out at all hours, the morning clean included.

Limits, self-exclusion, money

On the casino floor the staff agree a limit with you. Give them a figure before you sit; it goes in the book and they keep you to it. Where no figure has been given by late evening, they ask for one.

To stop, go to reception yourself. A table cannot do it and neither can a phone call. Self-exclusion: signed at reception, effective the same night, ended only by your returning to reception in person. The form stays in the office and never goes on this website.

The room gives no credit. There is no ATM in the building, whether in the cooperage, the cart way or reception. The casino bar stops pouring an hour before the tables close.

Online: nothing

The Cooperage is a casino room with real tables in a hotel on Sullivans Cove, and it exists only there. This website is a description of the building. No play, betting, registration or payment is possible through it.

To play, come to 17 Morrison Street, walk down the cart way, show your ID at the door and take a seat. Nobody gets in by any other route.

Responsible play Find the wharf