Stan at the Yalgoo Hotel

Stan has owned the pub at Yalgoo for more than two decades

The pub at Yalgoo is quite spectacular when seen for the first time hot pink and glowing in the late afternoon sun. However, it’s the paint job inside that’s the show stealer - the liberal use of a garish green the likes of which I’ve never seen before, certainly not in nature, but somehow, in this setting, it actually works. The walls are largely bare except for a couple of jokey 80s-style alcohol-related posters, a collection of old Yalgoo number plates, and an upside-down Exit sign.

Unsurprisingly wine by the glass wasn’t available at the Yalgoo Hotel, but it did sell a limited range of miniature bottles. Feeling celebratory after a great month in the Wheatbelt I chose the sparkling wine. Placing the freshly opened mini-bottle on the bar in front of me, I was quietly delighted when the young barman asked “You want a glass or a straw?” (For the record I opted for the glass.)

We got chatting to Shire worker Ray and the young fella behind the bar, and soon discovered the pub owner Stan really ought to be photographed, and he’d be back in town the following day. Feeling that the pub itself was a photo waiting to happen in daylight, and delighted to hear that Stan was a great character, we decided to stay another day in Yalgoo.

Five o’clock rolled around and after grabbing a few shots of the building from the street basking in the light of the setting sun, we were initially disappointed to discover the pub was closed - there was a town-wide power cut. As it turned out, this worked to our advantage. A knock on the door brought about an introduction to the photogenic publican, and without an audience of after-work punters, Stan was happy to let me grab a few photos of him in the bar.