The South Pole Inn

The South Pole Inn Review

This fascinating landmark was built by local hero Tom Crean (1877-1938). Crean enlisted in the English navy at the age of 15, and served on three expeditions to Antarctica—the Discovery (1901-04) and the Terra Nova (1910-13), both under the command of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, and the Endurance (1914-16), where he was second officer to Ernest Shackleton. Crean himself failed to reach the South Pole on any of these expeditions, and named his pub so that in his retirement he could go to work at the South Pole every day.

Memorabilia at the pub fill in the details of Crean's Antarctic adventures. Crean was famed for his amazing strength and resilience. He walked 56 km (35 miles) through an Antarctic blizzard to bring help to his colleagues, with only two bars of chocolate and three biscuits for sustenance. For this he received the Albert Medal for Bravery. On another occasion he survived a 15-day journey across 1,280 km (800 miles) of ocean in an open boat.

The pub is the headquarters of the Tom Crean Society, which hosts occasional lectures and festivals and has been addressed by Sir Edmund Hillary and the grandsons of both Scott and Shackleton.