This guide is informational — a directory of where to find pokies, TAB and Sky Racing across the Geelong region for race day, a midweek punt or a meal with sport on. It is not a recommendation to gamble. If gambling is causing harm to you or someone you know, contact Gambler's Help on 1800 858 858 — free, confidential, 24/7.
Geelong has more than thirty pubs with pokies, TAB or both — but the question most people are actually asking is narrower. Where can I find a Sky Racing screen and a parmi on a Saturday afternoon? Which pub stays open the latest if I'm watching a late race? What's the closest TAB to the Pakington Street strip? The six venues below cover the most common Geelong-region briefs, with verified hours, gaming facilities and a sense of the room each one runs.
A working distinction: TAB-only pubs tend to be neighbourhood hotels where the TAB sits in the public bar with a few Sky Racing screens — you go for a beer and a meal and have a flutter alongside. Full gaming pubs have a separate gaming lounge with electronic gaming machines (pokies), often with extended hours, food service and a TAB. The format you want depends on the day — race day suits a TAB-and-bistro pub, a quiet midweek visit suits a full gaming venue with longer hours.
Race day timing matters more than venue choice for most punters. Saturday metropolitan racing runs from late morning to early evening — every venue below has Sky Racing screens. Spring Carnival peaks the first Tuesday of November (Melbourne Cup), the Saturday before (Derby Day), and the Saturday after (Stakes Day) — Cremorne, Centra and Norlane all run book-ahead Cup Day lunches. For game day at GMHBA Stadium, the Barwon Club is the closest TAB pub to the gates and combines a pre-game punt with a post-game band.
At a Glance — Geelong Pokies & TAB Pubs
| Venue | Suburb | Gaming | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barwon Club Hotel | South Geelong | TAB | Game day & race day, 500m from GMHBA |
| The Cremorne Hotel | Newtown | TAB · Sky Racing · Keno | Pakington Street race day with a bistro |
| Centra (Carrington Hotel) | Geelong CBD | Pokies · TAB | CBD full gaming lounge, open late |
| The Grovedale Hotel | Grovedale | Pokies · TAB | Latest gaming hours in Geelong (until 4am) |
| The Norlane Hotel | Norlane | Pokies · TAB | North-of-Geelong locals, 9am opens |
| Torquay Hotel | Torquay | Pokies · TAB | Surf Coast race day, accommodation on-site |
Hours below are kitchen-and-public-bar hours; gaming lounges sometimes run shorter than the public bar (typically opening 10am or 11am, closing earlier than the bar on weeknights). Phone the venue if your visit hinges on the gaming lounge being open — published hours are accurate but operators sometimes scale gaming hours back on quiet Mondays and Tuesdays.
For Race Day & Sky Racing — TAB-Led Pubs
A TAB-led pub is a neighbourhood hotel where the TAB and Sky Racing screens sit in the public bar — you have a flutter alongside a beer and a meal rather than disappearing into a separate gaming lounge. The two venues below are the headline picks for race day in Geelong: Barwon Club for game day combined with a punt, and Cremorne for the Pakington Street Saturday afternoon.
Barwon Club Hotel
The Barwon Club has been the heart of South Geelong since 1859, and the TAB and sports screens sit in the public bar at the front — you walk in for a beer, glance at the form guide, watch the next race and have a punch through the bistro for a parmi or a steak. The TAB section is straightforward: a row of self-service terminals, a manned counter at peak times, plenty of Sky Racing screens overhead. It's not a separate gaming lounge — there are no pokies — so the room stays a pub-and-music room, not a gaming room.
For game day at GMHBA Stadium, this is the closest TAB pub to the gates — about 500 metres up Moorabool Street, well inside the pre-game walking radius. Combine an early TAB visit (Saturday metro racing runs from 11am AEDT) with a stroll to the ground for a 1:45pm bounce, then back to the Bandroom or The Barn for live music post-game. Friday and Saturday open until 1am — the only Geelong TAB pub with a top-tier live music venue attached, which makes it the choice for a long Saturday that starts with a punt and finishes with a band. View listing →
The Cremorne Hotel
The Cremorne anchors the river end of Pakington Street and is the pick for a Pakington Street race day — TAB, Sky Racing, Fox Sports and Keno all in the public bar, three distinct spaces that let a busy Saturday self-sort. The bar with the screens runs the racing audio loud through the afternoon; the bistro dining room sits separately for guests who want lunch without commentary; the beer garden out the back is the in-between option for those who want a beer in the sun and a glance at the screens through the window.
The kitchen runs a full bistro menu seven days from 11:30am to 10pm — chicken parma, steak, fish and chips, vegetarian options, a kids menu — and the room is set up for a long Saturday that doesn't end at the closing bell. For Spring Carnival, the venue runs Melbourne Cup lunches that book out two to three weeks ahead — call the venue directly for the menu and the deposit. Open seven days, 11:30am to 10pm, no late closing — this is a sensible-Saturday venue, not a 1am one. View listing →
Full Gaming Pubs — Pokies + TAB in One Venue
A full gaming pub has a separate gaming lounge alongside the public bar, with electronic gaming machines, dedicated gaming-lounge food service, and longer trading hours than most neighbourhood pubs. Three Geelong-region venues anchor this format: Centra in the CBD, Grovedale on the south side, Norlane on the north.
Centra (formerly Carrington Hotel)
Centra is the trading name of the long-standing Carrington Hotel on the corner of Yarra and Little Malop Streets — a CBD corner pub with a traditional bistro, gaming lounge, TAB and live music nights. It's the closest full-gaming pub to the GPAC and Westfield Geelong end of the CBD, and the trading hours are wider than most CBD venues — open from 10am every day until late.
The room runs as a CBD local: a public bar at the front with a few Sky Racing screens, a separate gaming lounge with pokies, and a bistro dining area for sit-down meals. Live music nights — usually Friday and Saturday — pull a crowd that keeps the public bar lively into the evening. For a CBD visitor who wants pokies and TAB without leaving the city centre, this is the central choice. View listing →
The Grovedale Hotel
The Grovedale is the largest pub on the south side of Geelong — three distinct spaces under one roof, with the latest closing time of any Geelong-region gaming pub. Pioneer Kitchen handles full sit-down dining; The Juke is an open-air garden bar with a TAB, Sky Racing screens and the trivia room; the gaming lounge runs alongside with pokies. The bottle shop on the way out makes it a one-stop venue.
Trading hours are the headline: open 10am to 4am Sunday through Friday, and 12pm to 3am Saturday. That makes Grovedale the only Geelong-region pokies-and-TAB venue with hours running past 1am most nights — useful for shift workers, post-show wind-downs from the CBD, or anyone catching the late races on the East Coast time zone. Live music in The Juke garden bar runs Tuesday through weekends; trivia runs weekly. View listing →
The Norlane Hotel
The Norlane is the Princes Highway landmark on the way into Geelong from Melbourne — the pub with the cycling-great Sir Hubert "Oppy" Opperman tribute on the facade. It's a north-of-Geelong locals' venue rather than a destination pub, but the format is well-tuned for the brief: a bistro serving hearty all-day meals, an Entertainment Lounge with pokies, and a TAB that opens at 9am — the earliest TAB opening of any Geelong-region venue.
Trading runs 9am to 5am every day, which puts Norlane alongside Grovedale at the late end of the Geelong gaming-pub spectrum. The 9am opening matters for international racing on European time — Royal Ascot, Cheltenham, the Arc — when the action runs through the early morning Australian time. Takeaway meals are also part of the offer, which is unusual for a gaming pub and useful if you're driving to or from Melbourne and want a quick stop on the highway. View listing →
Surf Coast — Race Day on the Coast
For a race day on the Surf Coast — a long Saturday lunch with the racing in the background and a walk to the beach in between — Torquay Hotel is the headline pick.
Torquay Hotel
Torquay Hotel is the main pub on the Surf Coast — Bell Street, minutes from the beach and the gateway to the Great Ocean Road. The format covers the full Surf Coast brief: a bistro serving lunch and dinner seven days, a sports bar with multiple large screens, a separate gaming lounge with pokies and TAB, and on-site accommodation upstairs.
For a Saturday race day with a coastal angle, this is a single-stop venue: long lunch in the bistro with the racing on in the background, a walk down to Front Beach between races, back for the late metro card and a parmi for dinner. The accommodation upstairs lets a Melbourne race-day group make a weekend of it — train down to Geelong, transfer to the Surf Coast, stay over and walk to dinner. Open 10am to late seven days. View listing →
Plan Your Race Day
Three Geelong-region race day patterns that cover most punting briefs.
The Cremorne Hotel on Pakington Street is the headline pick — TAB, Sky Racing, Fox Sports, Keno, full bistro 11:30am to 10pm and three distinct spaces that let the room self-sort between racing-watchers, diners and beer-garden drinkers. Barwon Club is the South Geelong equivalent for an afternoon that ends with live music at the Bandroom. Best parmi guide →
The Barwon Club is the closest TAB pub to GMHBA Stadium gates — about 500 metres up Moorabool Street. Saturday metro racing runs from 11am, gates open from around 12:30pm for a 1:45pm bounce. Pre-game beer and form study, walk to the ground, post-game band — the natural sequence on a Cats home Saturday. See the GMHBA Stadium guide for the full pre-game pub crawl.
The Cremorne, Centra, and Norlane all run book-ahead Cup Day lunches (deposits required, dressed-up rooms, set or buffet menus). Spring Carnival runs the first week of November — Derby Day Saturday, Melbourne Cup Tuesday (a Victorian public holiday), Stakes Day Saturday. Phone the venue two to three weeks ahead for the menu and table layout. For a smaller Spring Carnival lunch on the Surf Coast, Torquay Hotel handles it as well.
Also Worth Knowing
Phoenix Hotel (Geelong CBD) — Moorabool Street CBD pub with pokies, TAB, sports bar and a solid bistro. Long-standing local with weekend hours running until 1am. Useful Plan B for the CBD when Centra is busy or live music is loud. Phoenix Hotel →
Lord of the Isles Tavern (Newtown) — known to locals as "Lordies", on West Fyans Street. Bistro, sports bar, TAB, Foxtel and a separate gaming lounge — the Newtown alternative to the Cremorne for a full-gaming format rather than TAB-only. Open 10am to 4am every day. Lord of the Isles →
Petrel Hotel (Geelong West) — TAB-only, but it's Geelong's oldest pub (1849) and the TAB sits in a heritage Pakington Street public bar with an open fireplace in the bistro. The pick if the brief is a short race day with a beer in the original Pakington Street pub rather than a long Saturday session. Petrel Hotel →
Drysdale Hotel (Bellarine Peninsula) — Bellarine pokies pub at the five-roads intersection in Drysdale. Classic 1930s red-brick venue with a sports bar, gaming lounge and bottle shop. The pick when the brief is a Bellarine drive-around with a stop on the way to or from Queenscliff. Drysdale Hotel →
Esplanade Hotel Queenscliff — Queenscliff's heritage town pub on Gellibrand Street, est. 1879. Pokies in a small gaming lounge alongside the sports bar; balcony bar overlooking the Bellarine. Race day on a Queenscliff weekend uses this venue for the pokies side and the Vue Grand for dinner upstairs. Esplanade Hotel Queenscliff →
Waurn Ponds Hotel, Lara Hotel, Peninsula Hotel (Newcomb), White Eagle House (Breakwater), Gateway Hotel (Corio), Great Western Hotel (Newtown), and Valley Inn Hotel (South Geelong) all carry pokies, TAB or both. Browse the full Geelong directory by suburb for the venue closest to you.
Race Day & Gaming Tips
- Set a limit before you go — and stop when you hit it. Decide on a session budget at home, take that amount in cash, and leave the cards in the car. Every venue above has ATMs but using them mid-session is the most common way a planned $50 punt becomes a $200 hangover. If gambling is causing harm, call Gambler's Help on 1800 858 858 — free, confidential, 24/7.
- For Saturday metro racing, get there for the 11am card. Race day momentum builds through the day — first race in Melbourne is usually around 11am AEDT, the main races run from 1pm through 5pm, last race typically wraps by 6pm. Cremorne, Barwon Club and Phoenix all open at 11am or earlier, which means you can be set up with a beer and the form guide before the first jump.
- Spring Carnival lunches book two to three weeks ahead. Cup Day (the first Tuesday of November), Derby Day (the Saturday before) and Stakes Day (the Saturday after) all sell out at the venues that run them — Cremorne, Centra, Norlane, Torquay Hotel. Phone the venue directly rather than booking online; menus often aren't published in advance and a phone call gets you the table layout and dress code.
- Sky Racing channels matter for international races. Most TAB pubs run Sky 1 and Sky 2 Australian metro and country meetings; international racing (Royal Ascot, Cheltenham, US Triple Crown, Hong Kong) runs on the Sky Thoroughbred Central feed which not every venue carries. Phone ahead if you're chasing a specific international card. Norlane's 9am opening helps for the early-morning AEDT international races.
- Bistro hours are tighter than bar hours. Most gaming pubs run kitchens 11:30am–2:30pm and 5:30pm–9pm with the bar open longer either side. If your race day plan involves a meal, pin the kitchen window first and work the racing card around it. Grovedale's three-spaces format is the exception — Pioneer Kitchen runs longer hours than most pub bistros.
- Self-exclusion programmes are available at every Victorian gaming venue. Self-exclusion lets you ban yourself from gaming areas at one or all venues for a set period — the venue is then required to refuse you entry to gaming if you try. It's free, confidential and reversible. Ask the duty manager at any venue, or call Gambler's Help on 1800 858 858 to set it up.