Phil Brodie sits shirtless on the veranda of Cairns' Cape York Hotel with his legs stretched out. A book lies face down on the plastic white table beside his half empty stubbie.

Just metres away there is a small room with a single bed, a 26 inch flat screen television and a mini-bar fridge – this is Phil’s palace above pub.

"The lifestyle is great," said Phil, a sheet metal worker.

"I have no commitments, no great bills to pay, the people are good and it’s a short walk home.

"We make memories here every week – there is never a dull moment, that’s for sure.

"I have been in Cairns for 30 years and I had my first beer here. I can remember coming here for a drink and watching the trains go past. The old railway line was just out the front of the pub."

Downstairs, sitting four stools down from the pool table, the pub’s handyman Dave sits watching everyone with a smile.

"I have been here for a very long time," he said. "I wouldn’t have it any other way,"

Publicans Gayle Scowcroft and her son, Ben, bought the Cape York and bottle shop on Spence St four years ago.

"I’ve run pubs since the ’70s – it’s a bit of a family thing to own pubs," she said.

"I just love to serve and I really enjoy people – I think that’s just my star sign. I enjoy it; if they are happy then I am happy.

"It’s nice to have somewhere that’s a little bit real, people walk in here they get spoken to, people look for me just to say hello … I run this pub just like a country pub.

"It’s an old basic hotel with eight basic hotel rooms upstairs."

With his arms folded Ben stands proudly outside The Cape York Hotel. He is living his dream. "It’s nothing fancy but it’s ours," he said.

"We are a real pub, with real food and real people.

"Now the pub is at point where everyone else is evolving in stainless steel and glass, a lot of pubs are losing their character.

"Mum and I had talked about getting into the pub business together then one day she rang me and said there is a pub in Cairns.

"I was living in Sydney at the time so I was on a plane and straight up here. I sat at the bar and after two pots of Gold I rang mum and said sign it up.

"When we took the pub over it was unloved and mum and I have done a lot of work to it, nothing structural but we just wanted to make look like someone cared.

"We would all like a fat bank roll to turn around and pull things down and improve it but we are making do with what we have got and I think mum and I are doing a pretty good job.

"We are one of the safest venues here in town now. The pub does have a past and that’s something we have been battling with.

"But there’s nothing more enjoyable than receiving positive feedback. It makes you very proud.

"You can come here have a good time and you don’t have to mortgage a kidney to afford the bar bill. We are finding once people have discovered us they keep coming back."

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