title: Empress Hotel, Fitzroy North
text: # Empress Hotel, Fitzroy North
  
  The Empress Hotel(formerly the Empress of India Hotel) is a pub located at 714 Nicholson Street, in the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy North. The Empress Hotel closed in December 2013, and reopened in its current form in early 2015.
  
  ## History
  
  The pub was opened in 1873 by John Bourke, and named in honour of Queen Victoria, who had been proclaimed the Empress of India on 1 January 1877. Until the late 20th century, it was frequented by employees of the nearby North Fitzroy tram depot.
  
  In the late 1980s, it became a live music venue, and played a part in the Melbourne indie rock scene through the 90s and 2000s. In its last decade as a music venue, hotel management had to deal with noise complaints from residents who had moved nearby without realising it was a music venue. In February 2015 the venue reopened with a traditional bar, a dining area and an open air beer garden.
  
  