Hospitality runs in the blood at the Plainland Hotel, today owned and managed by proprietors Bob and Julie Porter along with their son Michael.

Bob's family have been in the hotel game since before his grandparents arrived from Ireland in the 1900s, and at one stage all of his father's family held hotel licenses in south-east Queensland.

The Plainland was leased from Castlemaine Perkins brewery for 30 years by Bob's parents Richard and Rita before the 1976 upgrade to a four-lane Warrego Highway forced the option of either moving or demolishing the old hotel, which stood directly in the path of the proposed highway.

While his father was a hotelier of the 'old school', Bob saw an opportunity to renovate and expand one of the district's best known landmarks.  With the brewery showing no interest in continuing the hotel license, Bob and Julie stepped in and purchased the freehold.

The investment has paid off handsomely, with several extensions and renovations expanding the original hotel - a bar and family quarters that still included outhouses at the back - into a modern entertainment mecca that employs 27 staff.  Pub TAB arrived early on, the bottleshop following in the early 90s, the restaurant in 1995 and most recently a major facelift has added a popular dining deck and larger bar while preserving the pub's distinctive rural charm.  The one thing that never changes is that touch of family hospitality.

Over the last 95 years, the Hotel has evolved and grown along with its original dairy and grazing community to service the needs of a wider regional and tourist market.  A popular destination and resting place for as long as there has been a highway, Porters Plainland is now the first choice for hotel fun if you're travelling to or from Brisbane.

Drop in for five minutes... you really will want to stay all day.

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