Publican Darryl Stewart's calling time after almost 20 years behind the taps, pulling pots and sevens for a loyal crowd day-in, day-out with his wife Sue.

The pub is a welcome piece of tradition in central Ballarat, one of the few neighbourhood corner pubs still operating.

Mr Stewart said the pub was built in 1864, with an "A Miller" the first publican - it was rebuilt with a second storey added after it burned down at the turn of the century.

The pub's had two owners since 1953 - Mr Stewart, and before him, the Walker family.

He said it's now time for someone new to take the reins, with some travel to visit family planned.

"I did it the day I turned 65, I said to Sue, it's 20 years, by the time it sells, it'll be 20 years here," he said.

"The old bones can't keep up, it's a lot of hours."

Famously a pub without a kitchen, Mr Stewart laughed when he was reminded of an article in The Courier 10 years ago - he's quoted as saying people can eat at the pub, "and they have four choices - chicken, plain, salt and vinegar, or honey soy" chips.

"I gave them a straight answer - I don't know why I said it," he said with a wry smile.

"People were ringing me up asking for a 'Smiths dinner', I had a lot of people ringing up (after that article), and I said 'I tell you what I'll do for you, I'll even put them in a bowl for you'."

Mr Stewart stumbled into the hospitality game, after driving past the old North City Hotel on Creswick Road and seeing it was up for auction.

"I just pulled up, dropped in, they were starting off at $200,000, I said I'm prepared to give you $80,000, and they knocked me back," he said.

"The next day, Kevin McArthur rang me up and said you can have it for $80,000 - I never knew nothing about a pub, but I started off from there.

"It's worked alright, it's been a good life - a great life, actually."

Part of the attraction is the regulars, he said, with many hanging on until their last days, and their family returning for their wakes.

"You see them every day of the week - you lose a few who move interstate but you pick up a couple more," he said.

"Most of the time, when we lose people, it's when they die."

Despite rusted-on regulars and darts nights, there's plenty of potential, Mr Stewart said - a return to the karaoke days in the mid-00s could be on the cards, or live music, or perhaps even a kitchen.

"I'd love to see it stay as a pub like this," he said.

"Have a nice cold beer - it has to be cold and crisp, and we pride ourselves on that, you can ask a lot of people around Ballarat, we're classed as having the best in Ballarat.

"That and just be friendly to people, the ones that ain't friendly to you, you move them on, there's not much more you can do."

There are still surprises - just this weekend, Carngham-Linton Football Club swung past after the match against Clunes, and drank through six kegs and every Cruiser and UDL in the building.

That said, tastes in the industry are changing, Mr Stewart said, and it's not just the "yuppie-er beers".

"Young ones want schooners and pints, but I don't, I have my pots and my sevens, I'd sell forty or fifty sevens every day of the week," he said.

"The young ones like drinking out of these buckets, but no - sevens, same with the wine glasses.

"It's old fashioned, someone will change it all, but when they put the (modern glyco) system in, I'll say you're a fool."

The pub is up for sale or lease through Colliers International Ballarat - the pub, on 503 square metres, includes a five-bedroom home upstairs, with an asking price of $925,000.

Colliers executive James Lawson said there had already been interest in the past week.

"It's really impressive, they've kept it so well-maintained, they've looked after it over the years," he said.

"Whatever that next step is, it's a pretty open canvas for what's next, whether it's a pub, motel, or going another way."

Apart from the cold beer, Mr Stewart had one final piece of advice for whoever takes over the place.

"It's a big commitment, if you don't commit you won't make it - you have to be head and toes into the game," he said.

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