The Brittania Hotel was opened on the 3rd October 1850 and due to rising river levels, was rebuilt in 1898. The Britannia Hotel licence was granted to Richard Trott in 1850, for what appears to be an earlier two-storey building on this site. (An 1886 map shows this early building with balconies). Richard Trott also owned the Sportman Hotel in Byron Place, Adelaide (now closed).

An interesting point to note - John Murphy, a publican during the late 1880s was fined ten shillings in 1878 for “neglecting to have a lighted lamp in front of his house between sunset, 9 June, and sunrise of the following morning.”

The current building was opened c1890s and is one of the few late Victorian buildings in Port Adelaide. It was renamed the "Dockside Tavern" in 2002. It is now heritage listed by the State Trust.