One of Melbourne's last surviving "old-school" pubs, the Great Western Hotel, is a retro watering hole on King Street that has remained unchanged for decades.

It is a place where customers leave their cash in neat piles on the bar and their $5 pots are refilled without them having to ask.

The Great Western Hotel publican Glenn Day. Credit:Penny Stephens

Until recently you could buy a pub meal and beer for just $10. Every Wednesday the special was sausages and mashed potato.

But after what is believed to be more than 150-years of continual operation as a pub, an application has been filed to demolish the gold-rush era venue and replace it with an apartment tower.