Originally built about 1868 by Charles Bell, it started life as the modest "Travellers Rest".

It was first licensed on 13 September 1869.

In June 1873 Bell leased his hotel to Thomas Coghlan, who renamed it the Shamrock Hotel.

Coghlan and his wife, Anastasia, made improvements and ultimately purchased it from Bell in 1875.

An advertisement at the time described the hotel as having "very superior accommodation for boarders [and] private rooms for families".

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The hotel's stables were extensive, running from the rear of the hotel almost to Pynsent Street.

Possibly due to failing health, Thomas Coghlan leased the hotel to William Robinson in 1877.

Robinson was an energetic man who had arrived from England about 1868 and started work as a travelling salesman for George Langlands' store, negotiating the rough tracks and sparse water of the early Wimmera and Mallee with two horses and a van.

He had married Esther Smyth in 1869 and, with a growing family, took up the lease on the Shamrock on 28 May 1877.

Robinson made several changes to the Shamrock.

An 1883 report stated he had added seven bedrooms. He stocked Melbourne, Castlemaine and Ballarat beers and imported English draught ales.

The going rate for beer in those days was threepence for a 10-ounce glass.

He was heavily involved in sports. In 1882 he was instrumental in setting up an athletics club in Horsham.

He was also the secretary and handicapper of the Wimmera Turf Club.

The hotel acted as committee rooms and registration centre for these sporting bodies.

In the early hours of Thursday, 18 January 1883 a fierce fire, started by a faulty kerosene lantern in the hands of a drunken cook, totally destroyed the Shamrock Hotel.

The Horsham Times of 23 January 1883 reported: "The hotel, being large and built of wood, a very few minutes sufficed for the fire to get a thorough hold of the building. The flames spread with astonishing rapidity to Mrs Anderson's bakery [to the hotel's east]. As is usual on such occasions, there were plenty of willing hands to assist in removing things from the burning buildings . . but it is to be regretted that many who assist at fires work so excitedly as to render much that they save valueless."

The fire also destroyed a house on the western side of the hotel and from there threatened the Horsham Times office, which was only just saved by the heroic efforts of the firemen.

The article ended with, "it is to be hoped new buildings will be put up, for the appearance of Wilson Street has been greatly disfigured by [this fire and] the large fires that have taken place on the opposite side of the street during the past few weeks".

The effect of such a cluster of fires was to persuade those building new premises to focus their attention further north, along Firebrace Street.

The owner of the Shamrock, Anastasia, began planning to rebuild, this time in brick.

On the strength of this, William Robinson erected a temporary bar and began trading again.

However, Anastasia changed her mind and instead took the insurance payout of £1,200. The Shamrock Hotel ceased trading in mid-1883.

Anastasia sold the site for £250 to the newly created Horsham Borough Council in January 1885.

The council wanted a large site on which to build Municipal Offices and a Town Hall.

The Municipal Offices opened on 14 June 1886.

A Town Hall was added in 1911.

Both these buildings were demolished in 1938 and a replacement Town Hall and offices were built on the same site in 1939.

The building was converted to an art gallery in 1983.

Between 2011-2015 it was upgraded, and extended to include a theatre, re-opening as Horsham Town Hall and Regional Art Gallery in January 2016.

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