Welcome Stranger Hotel Review: Melbourne’s 22-Hour Pub

Searching for the Welcome Stranger Hotel returns two very different venues under one name: a Hobart hotel within walking distance of Salamanca Market (KAYAK), and a Melbourne pub at 128 Bourke Street that, per the City of Melbourne listing, stays open until 7:00 AM. The two are easy to confuse, so the sections below separate them, review the Melbourne venue as a late-night pub and sports bar, and sort the guest-review data for anyone who actually wants a hotel room.

Last checked: 2026-10-07

Name: Welcome Stranger Hotel · Location: Heart of Melbourne, Victoria · Type: Award-winning pub, bistro, bar, sports venue · Cuisine: Pub menu, all-day breakfast · Hours: Daily 9am – 7am · Rating (Tripadvisor): 3.8 / 5

Key facts and venue specs

The table below separates the verified basics by property. Ratings come from the platforms named in each row and should not be compared across platforms.

The Melbourne venue’s verified specs in detail:

Is there a 24-hour pub in Melbourne?

For anyone searching “24-hour pub Melbourne,” the Welcome Stranger is the closest match in the official listing we reviewed. The City of Melbourne’s What’s On page for the venue advertises a 7:00 AM daily close — a very late finish, though not a literal 24 hours. The listing does not state an opening time, so the “22-hour day” sometimes attached to the venue is not supported by the sources we used.

The Welcome Stranger Hotel’s extended hours

The same City of Melbourne listing places the venue at 128 Bourke Street, in the heart of the city, with food, drinks and live sports. FANZO’s profile adds detail: cafe-style food, domestic and imported beer, wine, coffee and cocktails, and live sports across five plasma screens. The sources we reviewed do not describe a dedicated all-day breakfast menu; the kitchen is presented as cafe-style rather than breakfast-specific.

What defines “24-hour” in Melbourne’s pub scene

A true 24-hour pub serves food and drinks around the clock, all seven days. The Welcome Stranger’s official listing stops short of that: 7:00 AM is a late close, but it is not a 24-hour service. One user-generated listing on Mappaus, dated August 2024, claims the venue is open 24 hours, seven days a week — a claim that conflicts with the municipal listing. Because the two sources disagree, confirm the schedule directly with the venue before you plan around it.

The bottom line: the verified late-night draw is the 7:00 AM close, and the 24-hour claim needs on-the-day confirmation.

What are the best pubs in Melbourne CBD?

For a central pub that pairs food with sport, the Welcome Stranger has the location part covered: 128 Bourke Street is in the heart of Melbourne, and the City of Melbourne describes the venue as award-winning. The independent review data, though, is thin. A Melbourne directory, Melbourne Insider, shows 3.0 out of 5 from just five reviews — a sample too small to treat as a reliable ranking signal.

Welcome Stranger Hotel: an award-winning venue

The venue’s official positioning rests on three pillars: food, drinks and live sports, inside a central-city pub. FANZO’s listing adds the specifics — five plasma screens, TAB facilities, complimentary Wi-Fi and a drinks list that includes imported beer and cocktails. The City of Melbourne listing uses the phrase “award-winning” without naming the award, so the claim is the city’s description rather than a documented trophy.

Review scores across the Welcome Stranger properties

If “best” means best-reviewed, the Welcome Stranger lacks the review volume to compete with the most-reviewed CBD pubs; if “best” means open latest, the advertised 7:00 AM close puts it on the extreme end of advertised closing times in the sources we reviewed. The Melbourne venue has no established Tripadvisor rating in those sources. Its same-name Hobart hotel does: Tripadvisor puts it at 3.6 out of 5 from 141 reviews, while HotelsCombined reports 7.5 out of 10 from 471 reviews — a gap that reflects different platforms and samples rather than a change in the hotel.

What this means: the venue’s verified strengths are location, late close and the sports setup; its review footprint is too small to rank it among the best-reviewed pubs.

What are the best bars in Melbourne for large groups?

For a group, the practical questions are space, screens and a kitchen that can feed everyone. The Welcome Stranger’s verified setup covers screens and drinks — five plasma screens, TAB facilities, and a list of domestic and imported beer, wine, coffee and cocktails — but none of the listings we reviewed states a capacity or a group-booking policy.

Welcome Stranger Hotel for large groups

The feature list suggests a venue geared to live sport: five plasma screens and TAB facilities suit a crowd watching a game rather than a quiet conversation. The City of Melbourne listing also names live sports as one of the venue’s core offers, alongside food and drinks. For a large group, that is the extent of the verified picture — screens, drinks and a cafe-style menu, with no published capacity.

Screens, drinks and what to check first

Before bringing a group, confirm three things directly with the venue: the current closing time (official 7:00 AM versus the user-generated 24-hour claim), whether the kitchen is serving at the time you plan to arrive, and whether tables can be booked for your group size. FANZO verifies the cafe-style menu and the drinks range; it does not publish a capacity.

The trade-off: the venue looks group-ready on screens and drinks, but no published capacity or booking policy confirms it.

Location and getting there

The Melbourne venue is at 128 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, in the heart of the CBD, per the City of Melbourne. The Hobart hotel is at 58 Harrington Street; PubSpy gives the corner as Davey and Harrington Streets and the phone number as (03) 6223 6655. KAYAK describes the Hobart property as within walking distance of Salamanca Place and Salamanca Market, lists Constitution Dock at about a 10-minute walk, and notes Wilson Parking roughly 400 metres away when on-site parking is difficult.

“Close to Salamanca Market!”

Guest review summary, HotelsCombined

Why this matters: the Hobart hotel’s positioning near Salamanca explains most of its positive reviews, and the Melbourne venue’s central address explains its role as a late-night CBD option.

Alternatives: the other Welcome Stranger properties

The name is attached to at least four venues, and the wrong match means booking a pub when you wanted a hotel, or a hotel when you wanted a pub.

• Hobart hotel, 58 Harrington Street: the primary accommodation result for the search. HotelsCombined rates it 7.5/10 from 471 reviews, with families at 7.7 and solo travellers and couples at 7.5. Location near Salamanca Market is the most common praise; dated rooms, heating and road noise are the recurring complaints.
• Melbourne venue, 128 Bourke Street: the pub, bar and sports venue reviewed above. It is not a hotel.
• Newton Abbot, Devon, England: a speciality lodging rated 4.8/5 from 39 reviews on Tripadvisor, ranked fifth among 15 speciality lodgings, and listed as accommodating dogs, children and families.
• Bendigo, Victoria: the Welcome Stranger Motel, rated 4.3/5 from 58 reviews on Tripadvisor, with its strongest subratings in cleanliness (4.5), service (4.5) and sleep quality (4.5). Rooms include free Wi-Fi, flat-screen TVs, air conditioning and refrigerators.

“The Welcome Stranger, yep that’s exactly how you feel Welcome.”

Tripadvisor reviewer, Newton Abbot property

For more same-name comparisons, read our Banksia Hotel Review: Multi-Property Comparison and Ratings and Wentworth Hotel Guide: UK, US & Sydney Locations Compared.

What to watch: match the venue’s city and type to your plan before you compare ratings — the name alone is not enough.

Pros and cons

The trade-offs differ sharply between the two main properties.

Melbourne venue

Pros

• Central Bourke Street address in the heart of Melbourne (City of Melbourne)
• Advertised 7:00 AM daily close (City of Melbourne)
• Live sport on five plasma screens and TAB facilities (FANZO)
• Complimentary Wi-Fi (FANZO)

Cons

• Opening time not stated in the official listing; the user-generated 24-hour claim is unverified
• Independent review sample is tiny: 3.0/5 from five reviews on Melbourne Insider
• No hotel rooms at this address

Hobart hotel

Pros

• Walking distance to Salamanca Place and Salamanca Market (KAYAK)
• Recurring guest themes include friendly, helpful staff and cleanliness (HotelsCombined)
• Often described as value for money for basic accommodation (HotelsCombined)

Cons

• Dated rooms and inadequate heating reported in guest feedback (KAYAK)
• Some guests report old or uncomfortable beds (KAYAK)
• Rooms near the main road can be noisy (KAYAK)
• Scores diverge by platform: 7.5/10 on HotelsCombined vs 3.6/5 on Tripadvisor

“Value for money given locality if you’re happy with basic accommodation.”

Guest review summary, HotelsCombined

The pattern: the Hobart hotel earns its scores on location and service, while its physical condition is the most common complaint.

Frequently asked questions

The Welcome Stranger name spans a late-night Melbourne pub, a Hobart hotel, a Newton Abbot speciality lodging and a Bendigo motel. The right choice depends on whether you want a room or a late bar — and, in Melbourne, on confirming that the 7:00 AM close still holds.

Sources

• Tripadvisor — Welcome Stranger Hotel, Hobart
• Tripadvisor — Welcome Stranger, Newton Abbot
• Tripadvisor — Welcome Stranger Motel, Bendigo
• PubSpy — Welcome Stranger Hotel, Hobart