On 29th June 1831 Richard Phillips obtained a liquor licence for the Shipwright Arms on the north-east corner of Kent and Argyle streets. The next year, because of the support of the seafarers and the workers on Observatory Hill, he changed the name to The Sailor's Return. In 1838 Phillips sold to a plasterer, William Wells, who lived on the opposite corner in a two storey colonial home he built in 1836 using sandstone blocks quarried from the area at the base of Observatory Hill. Wells continued to operate the pub opposite his home firstly as the Sailors Return, and in 1840 as the Quarryman's Arms.
In 1841 he sold and on 1st May 1841 he obtained a liquor licence for his home which he then called The Lord Nelson. The hotel has now been restored to its former grandeur with the aid of an 1852 photograph.
www.lordnelsonbrewery.com/