Just walking in to the darkened room and ordering a pint at the old school wooden bar with the big old Crown and Anchor mirror on the wall, you get a sense that beer and history infuse the place.

Just walking in to the darkened room and ordering a pint at the old school wooden bar with the big old Crown and Anchor mirror on the wall, you get a sense that beer and history infuse the place.

The spiritual home to musical misfits, punks, students, freaks and geeks, the Crown & Anchor – affectionately known as the Cranker – has filled the glasses and souls of generations of Adelaideans, and this year celebrates its 170th birthday.

Tucked away on a Grenfell Street corner a block from the trendiness of Rundle Street, the ground-floor pub more than lives up to its self-appointed title of ‘The home of cold beer and amplified music.’

It’s seen fashion come and go but remains defiantly unfashionable, with a pool table, no reno’s, no meals, no pokies and no compromise. It’s an old school front bar playing loud music, walls decked with posters for upcoming gigs and a crusty room out back where they happen.

Rock, punk, metal, hardcore, shoegaze, ambient, indie, psych, acoustic… whatever – it’s played on the Cranker stage, as a long roll-call of local and touring independent bands blast their way through. For over 30 years (at least) it has survived as a live and loud music venue. A handful of other CBD pub survivors still regularly host live music (honourable mention to the Exeter) but only the Cranker is still partying like it’s 1991.

Established in 1853 and rebuilt in 1880, the venue has a long and colourful history through wars, Depression, a stint as a topless bar, the indoor smoking ban and the drunken antics of thousands of punters – including these writers’.

The space upstairs has changed and evolved too. Now it’s an Italian restaurant called Midnight Spaghetti, but old heads remember it as Ghost Ships, while even older heads recall it being accommodation for pub denizens including The Iron Sheiks singer, who preferred to sleep at the Cranker as well.

It’s the toilets though that really tell the story. Essentially a living gallery, the graffiti, scribbles and stickers tell a tale of Adelaide’s ever-changing underground scene. Online radio shows and four-piece punk bands come and go in this city, but they’ve made their mark on the loo walls.

So, here’s to 170 more years of jugs, riffs, black t-shirts and pool tricks. 170 more years of ‘just one more beer’.

170 more years of drunken afternoons that turn into evenings and of bummed cigarettes from your mate who still smokes. 170 more years of the Cranker. Cheers.

The Crown and Anchor is located at 196 Grenfell Street, Adelaide, and is open from Monday to Saturday from 12pm until 3am, and Sunday from 2pm until 3am.

Connect with the business on Instagram for more.