Builders Arms Hotel

The Builders Arms Hotel is an iconic corner pub on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy that has been at the forefront of Melbourne food and drink for over a decade under Andrew McConnell and Anthony Hammond of the Trader House group. Over the years the site has cycled through fine-dining rooms Moon Under Water and the Chinese restaurant Ricky & Pinky before returning to its current form as a bistro, but the classic front bar with its counter service and lively neighbourhood crowd has stayed constant throughout.

What sets it apart for non-drinkers is a deliberately considered non-alcoholic list rather than a token afterthought. Pub With No Booze features the hotel specifically for its "well thought out non alcoholic list," noting you can settle in for people-watching on Gertrude Street over an alcohol-free beer or cocktail. Australian no/low guide NoLo Life goes further, rating the venue five stars for an "excellent range of AF and LA drinks" that covers AF beer, AF cocktails, AF red, white and sparkling wine, AF spritzes and RTDs, and mocktails.

The room itself pairs classic pub architecture with McConnell-standard dining: a restrained cream, blue and grey bistro with attentive table service, a lively front bar, and a compact, lived-in courtyard for warmer days. The kitchen is known for seasonal menus and signature plates like its fish pie, steaks, oysters and whipped cod roe, so the zero-proof drinks sit alongside a genuine dinner destination rather than a drinks-only bar.

The hotel is open seven days from midday until late at 211 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, a short walk from the Smith Street and Brunswick Street precincts.

A pub is a harder test than a cocktail bar, and this one has been passing it for a while. Pub With No Booze calls the Builders Arms an iconic Gertrude Street hotel that has sat at the forefront of food and wine under Andrew McConnell and Anthony Hammond for more than a decade, and says there is no better spot to watch Melbourne go by — now with a beer or cocktail from a well-thought-out non-alcoholic list.

That combination is the useful part. Pubs are where most social drinking actually happens, and they are also where a non-drinker is most likely to be handed a lemonade. A front bar on Gertrude Street with both alcohol-free beer and alcohol-free cocktails means the person not drinking can stand in the same room, order in the same round and hold the same shape of glass, which is most of what anyone wants from a pub. The dining room behind it operates at a considerably higher standard than the phrase "pub food" suggests, so it also works as somewhere to eat properly.