The adjoining former Cuthbert's Patent Slip building, assumed to date from 1869 and also heritage-listed, has also been incorporated into the hotel complex in recent decades.

The area of the Patent Slip occupied part of the western half of the present hotel site, used in the repair of small vessels.

[1] The site of the present hotel was resumed by the Government of New South Wales in 1900 after the outbreak of plague, which then passed to the Sydney Harbour Trust.

[1] The hotel was a focus of the Sydney Push intellectual subculture during the 1950s and 1960s, with Germaine Greer, Robert Hughes and Richard Wherrett among those who frequented the venue.

[5] In 1969 the property was resumed by the Department of Main Roads for realignment of Day Street, at which time the licensee was Sidney Willis.

[7] In 1991, the owners went into receivership after a failed sale attempt and reported trading problems caused by construction in the area.

[13] The refurbished hotel attracted a number of prominent celebrities, with Jack Nicholson, Kevin Costner, Keanu Reeves, U2 and Helena Christensen among those to visit in the first year.

At the turn of the century the building had a bull-nosed corrugated iron awning with a sign `J. Smith Co Ltd' on the southern panel.

In 1987 there were major alterations to the building, including partial use as a restaurant, as well as erection of the garage structure facing Slip Street.

[19] The Royal George Hotel is a two-storey face brick building with two basement levels located on a prominent site at the corner of Sussex and King Streets.

The original doors to the bars have been retained on this face and also the decorative small pane windows, but some areas of brickwork have been painted on the building.

Some original internal fabric such as stairs, plaster decorative detailing, cornices and ceiling roses, fireplaces and leadlight windows have been retained.

Each `shop' has a 6-panel door and toplight separated by a thin timber pilaster post from a full-width three-light window.

Brick piers support the timber girders of the upper floor except on the east side, where a sandstone retaining wall bears the load.

It reflects the social character of the area during the early years of the 20th century and is representative of the style used in a prominent corner hotel.

It has aesthetic significance as a group of unified, low scaled and evocative commercial occupancies now comparatively rare.