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The Metropolitan Tram and Investment Company constructed a number of horse-drawn tram routes from 1885, including one to West End in 1888. The tram company also began running feeder horse ‘buses to tram lines despite the complaints of existing operators who couldn’t offer the same combined ticket with the tram. Electric trams were introduced in 1897. The West End line was amongst the first electrified. As tram routes were established and extended, many omnibus lines closed down, and homes close to tram routes became more sought after. Source: highgatehill-historical-vignettes.com/2020/09/05/brisbane...

In 1887, Mr. George H. Lewis was licensee of the West End Hotel. The hotel also included his blacksmith and wheelwright business. In 1891, Mr. Patrick O’Reilly had the licence for the West End Hotel, and it was owned by Mrs Mary O’Connell. 29 January 1899 – Transfer of West End Hotel license from Mrs. Annie McLoughlin to Mr. Joseph A. Catip. Western Champion, 1 December 1896 reports about the hotel narrowly escaping fire after one of the top floor bedrooms was in a fire. In 1909, the West End Hotel narrowly survived the big fire that swept along the street on 10 August, destroying seventeen buildings. Mrs Ellen Dobbins was the owner and licensee of the West End Hotel from 1912. January 1913 – License of the West End Hotel is transferred from Mrs. Ellen Dobbins to Mrs. Elizabeth Donlan. 10 October 1914 – ownership and license of the West End Hotel is transferred from Mrs. Elizabeth Donlan to Mr. Bernard Charles. In October 1915, it wasn’t so lucky, being destroyed by a fire that started in Beech Street probably behind Butler’s Auction rooms. Tenders were called for the erection of a new hotel in November 1915. The new hotel, in a grander style, was operating in 1916 from the same site. Source: barcaldine-peopleplacesthings.org/west-end-hotel/

It was the ‘great flood’ of 1893 that set the standard for the Brisbane River. This event is memorable, among other things, for destroying the Victoria Bridge and the Indooroopilly Railway Bridge and for stranding three ships in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens. In the case of beer production, the 1893 flood was most interesting because of its conspicuous effect on several of the many breweries which then operated in and around Brisbane. In particular, it inflicted major damage on one of the city’s biggest beer producers, the West End Brewery. Of the five breweries in Brisbane at the beginning of 1893, the West End suffered the most from the devastating flood in February of that year. At the height of the flood, the water had risen up to the windows on the second storey of the tower, and all the dwellings in the immediate neighborhood were completely or nearly submerged. When the waters receded, the extent of the damage was revealed; the brewery tower remained, but the surrounding timber buildings were completely wrecked. The brewery had been surrounded by water during an earlier flood in March 1890, but compared to the 1893 event, that of 1890 was only a minor inconvenience. A curious side-effect of the 1893 flood was an increase in drunkenness at South Brisbane and certain other places, due to the kegs of beer—said to number 500 hogsheads—that floated away from the West End Brewery. Some were taken to the railway embankment, the nearest high ground, and broached. Others washed ashore at the foot of Bowen Terrace, downstream on the other side of the river. The resulting scenes of misconduct were said to be ‘disgusting in the extreme’. Men were seen ‘drinking all they could and then quarrelling for possession of the cask containing the balance.’ Source: brewsnews.com.au/queenslands-breweries-in-the-1893-flood/