The Princes Berkeley Hotel building dates from 1878 and was erected on the site of the earliest colonial hotel, the Buffalo's Head (1838). The building was designed by Thomas English and constructed by Charles Farr. The balcony was extended to span the building in 1905 and 1923. The present name dates from 1947, though this structure’s original name, the Black Bull, is still applied to it occasionally by old-time locals.

 

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The following information on ‘Early Days of the Black Bull’ is in the Register on 9 April 1910, page 11a:

(T)he proprietors set up a sign which read:

The bull is tame, so fear him not,

So long as you can pay your shot.

When money’s gone and credit’s bad,

That’s what makes the bull go mad.

 

This was emphasised by a picture of a peaceful bull on one side of the board and another of a mad bull on the reverse side.