The best pubs with fireplaces in Melbourne

Our 2016 Pub of the Year ticks every box in winter. With craft beer, excellent food, a warming fireplace, TVs for watching the footy and Billy the pub dog, there's nowhere else we'd rather be.

Next time you pop into the Auburn, you might barely even recognise the place. The local Hawthorn community has recently been gifted with a multi-million-dollar expansion to their favourite watering hole. Once home to horse stables and then a motorworks garage, the neighbouring site has transformed into a contemporary atrium-style dining and drinking area, featuring a retractable roof and cosy fireplace – perfect for the colder months.

On any given night at this Collingwood bluestone stalwart, punters of all types are sinking pints by the roaring fireplace, smashing brilliant pub grub, and standing shoulder-to-shoulder at the bandroom. It's a warm, welcoming environment designed to reflect Melbourne’s incredibly diverse music scene and the people who make up that ecosystem, and you feel that philosophy the moment the doors to this grand old corner pub swing open. 

One of only five pubs in Melbourne awarded five stars by Time Out, the Marquis ticks every box. Stained glass windows, an excellent craft beer offering and soul-soothing atmosphere all make this the reigning pub in Fitzroy. Take a seat in the toasty dining room and enjoy the warmth of a roaring fire. 

It can be hard to find a place without a queue in Windsor, so it’s good to know that this heaving pub and cocktail bar has enough room for everyone – especially on an icy winter's night. Come to this all-occasions venue for a knock-off cocktail, weekend pint or weeknight pub meal. 

With walls lined with beer bottles and tables inlaid with Perspex boxes of hops and malt, the Taphouse has the warm, lived-in feel of your Grandpa’s living room. If beer is your thing, or just awesome pubs full of awesome people, you could do worse than set up here in winter.

While today’s Collingwood may be teeming with modern energy, the Grace remains a member of the old guard, still boasting live indie bands in the upstairs bandroom along with $9 happy hour pints between 4-6pm each day. Named after a lighthouse keeper’s daughter, the refurbished 19th century pub is Melbourne’s second oldest hotel and a place that seems to whisper its history from every hollow, nook and adornment. On freezing cold nights, you’ll find no cosier place on Smith Street.

This winter favourite has amazing food, but it’s not a gastro pub. The Napier is a pub pub, and nothing is going to change that. It’s festooned with memorabilia, gifted with a garden, and dishes up parmas and pies all built for winter (and built for two).

It takes a deft touch to update a pub without ruining it, but at the Lincoln, they slipped in the excellent wine list, an exciting collection of craft brews and a bistro menu that wouldn’t look out of place on white linen with candlelight and surgically precise service. Nothing that people loved about this historic Carlton pub, which was established in 1854, has been disturbed, and the new features seem like they’ve always been there. 

The dark wood and carpets of the Middle Park Hotel give you the impression of an exclusive gentlemen’s club. But the bright, welcoming bar quickly puts paid to any notions of stuffiness. On the food front, you'll find daily special pub classics every night, but the highlight of the week are the slow-cooked Sundays, where you can nab a glass of wine and a meal for $30, plus kids eat free.

Famous long before its appearance on TV series Offspring, the venerable Union Club nails the atmosphere of a warm, low-key local. Sink into a leather couch by the hearth with some bangers, mash, beer and a bass guitar backing track.

There’s history aplenty behind these walls. South Melbourne, the Melbourne suburb seemingly blessed with a higher pub-to-population ratio than any other, has tucked one of its jewels on a chi-chi backstreet where women in frivolous frocks and the men who love them take kerbside seats behind a wall of potted greenery. It’s a smart place that doesn’t ditch the pub brief in delivering aesthetics a cut above the average corner boozer.

This Flemington institution is an Irish pub where legitimately Irish bar staff will pull you a Guinness with a cheeky glint in their eye. The authentic menu - and the roaring log fire - will keep you warm through the coldest of Melbourne nights. Replete with live jaunty music that will make you want to get up and do a jig if you've had enough to drink, The Quiet Man could easily be crowned the most authentic Irish pub experience in Melbourne.

This odd little pub (which first opened in 1873) may just be the cosiest, too. The Tramway has not one, but two fireplaces so you can keep it toasty - plus a shelf stacked high with nostalgic games like Scrabble and cards. It's a party you want a Saturday afternoon ticket to.

Stepping through the doors of the Railway is like entering a time warp to the 1960s. Wine and beer are fuss-free and relatively cheap, but the spirits offering is impressive (someone here clearly loves whisky). The food, too, is simple and soul-warming. Perfect for a rainy day.

You feel like things could turn a bit gothic (or Scottish) as you sit before the flames and beneath the vaulted ceilings in this converted church. Generally though, things tick over in a convivial candlelit fashion while indie bands play and the craft beers flow.

While it's not strictly a pub as per the article's title, we couldn't resist a mention of this plush CBD cocktail lounge and its romantic open fireplace. Though you do need to enter through the back of a secret wardrobe, you won't find icy Narnia in here but rather a snug lounge replete with velvet pews, moody cocktails, and rustic pizzas. It's not easy to leave this place once you nab a seat.

When that winter chill bites, Orrong is oh so right! The hotel has been pouring pints since 1875 so it's no surprise the team here know what they're doing. They've cranked up their open fireplaces and set the scene for a perfect pub day in. Pop in on a Sunday and you'll be treated to a $25 roast.

If you start to feel a chill while wading through the late night chaos of Chapel Street, make a beeline for this cosy bar. While the comforting fireplace is enough of a drawcard, it also gets brownie points for smart cocktails, upbeat tunes and a perennially optimistic atmosphere. What else could we possibly want for in miserable weather?