The stone built hotel was originally constructed in 1887 before the 1893 Kalgoorlie gold rush for George Alfred Davies,[1] a vintner, local councillor and Mayor of Fremantle.

[2] After working for a number of years with his father, Albert, he established Grosvenor Cellars, selling alcoholic beverages and making his own wine.

[6] The Swan brewery operated the hotel for over fifty years[7] and a photo from the 1950s shows the building supporting tram lines on the corner of South Terrace and Norfolk Street.

[8] The brewery sold the hotel in 1952[7] to the first of a long line of private owners and another picture shows the beer garden packed with revellers on Derby Day on 26 December 1953.

[1] The building was sold for a reported one million Australian dollars to a micro brewery business, Brewtech Pty Ltd, who were the owners of the nearby Sail and Anchor Hotel.

The basis for the listing is the building's association with George Davies and because this is an unusual stone built structure that dates from before the 1893 Kalgoorlie Gold Rush.