Regional Pub Duo Sold Ahead of Christmas Trade

Two regional hotels in the State’s North-West and Hunter Valley respectively have sold in unrelated transactions concluded by leading brokerage agency HTL Property, in a sign that the transaction landscape for sub-metro hotels remains both fertile and active.

The Kootingal Hotel was acquired by Harry Gaffney who has been operating the Hotel under a lease arrangement for the past 2 years. The asset included 10 highly valuable poker machine entitlements and is the 25th freehold hotel sold in the New England region by HTL Property.

The second sale of Eatons Hotel in Muswellbrook, followed a public campaign that resulted in an timely acquisition by prominent Hunter Valley businessman, Dale McNamarra. The purchaser was particularly drawn to the 25 accommodation rooms and significant high street land holdings. McNamara has significant mining interests in the region and a notable portfolio of six freehold pubs in Singleton, Lochinvar, Maitland, Branxton and Muswellbrook. The property will undergo a significant capital works program and is due to re-open early to mid 2025.

“The sale of the two traditional country pubs comes at a time of frenetic year end activity, and which transcends geographical preference as we’ve managed equal numbers of regional and metro pub sales in multiple states these past four weeks” advised HTL Property’s, Xavier Plunkett.

The sale of The Kootingal and Eatons Hotels respectively, follows HTL Property’s sale announcements this past month including, The Spotted Cow (Toowoomba), The Cabarita Beach Hotel (Byron Coast), Harrigan’s Hotel (Jacob’s Well – Sth East Qld) and The Friend in Hand (Glebe – Sydney).

These deals further re-affirm HTL Property’s greater than 65% market share in all NSW regional pub transactions for calendar year 2024, and we look forward to sharing the comprehensive transactional data with the wider market in our 365 Days in Review document next week.

HTL Property looks forward to making further market announcements regarding the successful sale of multiple hospitality assets nationally and before the end of the 2024 Calendar Year.

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